Goldman's Blankfein again gets record-busting bonus

NEW YORK -- Not all chief executives at the nation's largest investment banks will receive a lump of coal instead of their typical millions of dollars in holiday bonuses this Christmas.

Blankfein will receive $26.8 million in cash, and $41 million in stock and options, Goldman disclosed Friday. He also received a base salary of $600,000.

Blankfein's bonus is a 27.2% jump from the record bonus he received last year of $53.4 million in cash and stock.

Goldman Sachs was able to largely avoid the mortgage-losses that plagued its competitors, leading it to post record profits during the year. Goldman Sachs posted $3.2 billion in profit in its fourth quarter alone, far surpassing its peers.

Other investment banks have been hit hard by the declining value of debt backed by mortgages. As those mortgages — especially subprime home loans made to customers with poor credit history — have increasingly defaulted, the banks have been forced to cut the value of the bonds.

Mack received a stock and option bonus in 2006 that, at the time of the award, was worth $40 million.