The Bottom Line
Shareholders in securities firms have lost $74 billion worth of equity this year, but the top five firms are still paying out almost $38 billion in bonuses.
Shareholders in securities firms have lost $74 billion worth of equity this year, but the top five firms are still paying out almost $38 billion in bonuses. Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brother, and Bear Stearns will pay about 168,000 employees an average bonus of $201,500. Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch actually lost money this year, but if they “plead poverty, they’re going to lose all of their good people,” says Manhattan College professor Charles Geisst. (Bloomberg)
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Trinidadian doubles recipe
The Week Recommends 'Dangerously addictive', this traditional Caribbean street food is the height of finger-licking goodness
By Rebekah Evans, The Week UK
-
Labour and the so-called 'banter ban'
Talking Point Critics are claiming that a clause in the new Employment Rights Bill will spell the end of free-flowing pub conversation
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK
-
Andor series two: a 'perfect' Star Wars show
The Week Recommends Second instalment of Tony Gilroy's 'compelling' spin-off is a triumph
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK