He's getting paid how much?
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JOB WELL DONE
Somebody "met most expectations."
During his first full year as CEO, DJ D-Sol got the kinda raise that analyst's wet dreams are made of: 19%. That includes a $2M base, $7.65M in cash bonus and $17.85M in long-term incentives. That's a total of $27.5M for all of the Occupy Wall Streeters looking to complain on Facebook about this.
The heir to Lloyd's throne bested his peer's raises, dwarfing Jamie Dimon and James Gorman's 1.6% increase and 6.9% decrease, respectively. F*cking betas.
But before the Dimon ride or dies @ us, it's probably worth noting that Solomon's raise likely reflects a right-sizing for his role, and JD still leads the league tables with $31.5M total comp.
So Davey "8:30 at Dorsia" Solomon killed it, right?
Well, not quite. Let's take a stroll back through time to the year of our lord 2019, shall we? Solomon inherited the 1MDB sh*tshow from his predecessor and despite his best efforts, has failed to make it disappear.
In fact, the bank's Q4 profit was dented by a $1.1B litigation charges. And that might just be the beginning as D-Sol and the masters of the universe continue discussion with the US Justice Department as part of a multi-billion dollar 1MDB settlement.
He also trimmed the fat (read: cut layers of management) and shipped Goldmanites to lower-cost locations. I hear Utah is beautiful this time of year. This was part of an initiative to boost return on equity from 11.5% to 13% over 3 years. *Checks in on how that initiative is going for him over the past month*
Arguably the most important power moves D-Sol made weren't in the DJ booth. His focus on consumer lending (sup, Marcus), including the Apple card, and wealth management, has upended business as usual. It's still too early to tell if these bets will pay off.
Of course, Goldman's share price rose 38% during his first year at the helm (note: the stock is down 40% so far in 2020), so he's got that going for him.
The bottom line...
What's the sentiment at 200 West St.?
While El Capitan was counting Scrooge McDuck piles of money, Junior Joe and the rest of the bourgeoisie had to swallow bonuses that would make Deutsche Bank scoff. But that's showbiz, baby.
Across the board on Wall Street bonuses were largely lackluster. According to compensation survey data and chatter on the street, bonuses were more likely of the "flat-to-down" variety for 2019.
David Solomon is getting a huge bonus this year [Bloomberg]
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