Goldman Sachs executives hold a 670 billion won party... 130 billion won compensation to CEO

U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs will pay special stock compensation totaling more than $500 million (about 670 billion won) to its top executives.

Bloomberg News reported this on the 8th (local time), citing company disclosure data and officials familiar with the matter. This reward is expected to be one of the largest special rewards in Goldman Sachs history.

This is stock-based compensation linked to stock price performance, and the total amount is calculated based on the current stock price.

It is known that approximately 20 executives are eligible for compensation, and the average compensation per person is approximately $25 million (approximately 33.5 billion won).

CEO David Solomon is expected to receive more than $100 million (approximately KRW 134 billion), the largest amount of compensation.

This compensation is in accordance with the long-term performance compensation system introduced by Goldman Sachs in October 2021, and the final amount will be confirmed at the end of this month when the five-year performance evaluation period ends.

This system links executive compensation to the company's long-term stock price performance.

At the time, on Wall Street, thanks to the boom in mergers and acquisitions and the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) craze, financial companies introduced a series of special performance compensation systems for executives, and Goldman Sachs was one of them.

Half of the compensation is determined by whether Goldman Sachs' stock price reaches a pre-determined target level, and the other half is linked to relative performance compared to six competitors.

Goldman Sachs' stock price significantly exceeded the threshold required to pay maximum compensation.

The total return on Goldman Sachs stock, including reinvested dividends, over the past five years was approximately 150%, outpacing all six competitors except Bank of New York Mellon (174%).

Jennifer Zuccarelli, a Goldman Sachs spokeswoman, said the compensation plan is designed to tie executive compensation to long-term performance and retain key talent. “Everyone knows that our company has achieved outstanding performance over the years,” she said.