Goldman Partners Will Reap Windfall According to Study

Nearly 36 million stock options were granted to employees in December 2008 — 10 times the amount issued the previous year — when the stock was trading at $78.78. Since those uncertain days, Goldman’s business has roared back and its share price has more than doubled, closing on Tuesday at nearly $175.

[Deal Book] The options grant is among the many details that emerged from a study of regulatory filings and internal partnership documents by The New York Times and Footnoted.com, a division of Morningstar that scrutinizes corporate disclosures. These filings provide a much fuller picture of both Goldman’s compensation and its elite partnership of 475 people who run the firm.

At the center of Goldman’s lucrative compensation program is their partnership. Goldman’s partners include the company's most prominent executives and its biggest stars. Federal regulations require Goldman to submit compensation reports for its top officers, but not for this broader group. Very little information is released or even known about the current membership of this elite group. 

The documents obtained by The New York Times and Footnoted.com clearly illustrate just how much wealth the partnership controls and has capitalized on over the years. According to the documents, there are approximately 860 current and former partners.  In a little over a decade, the partners have cashed out more than $20 billion in Goldman Sachs shares and currently hold more than $10 billion in Goldman stock.

The partnership is a formidable group of white-collar crooks. 

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