Goldman Sachs chief executive handed $7m stock bonus

Goldman Sachs handed its chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, a bonus of $7m (£4,4m) in shares for his work last year, down from $12.6m in 2010 in line with the investment bank’s slipping profits.

The figure, revealed last night, does not yet complete the picture of Mr Blankfein’s pay. Shareholders know that he also has an annual salary of $2m but Goldman is yet to publicise details of any cash bonus he may have been given on top. His total compensation for 2010 was $18.6m.

In common with the rest of Wall Street, Goldman’s fortunes have ebbed over the past 12 months, as the lessons of the credit crisis crimped trading activity and new regulations to tame the finance industry kicked in. Bond trading in particular has suffered.

However, the bank said last month that it had still been able to amass a pay and bonus pool for its employees of $12.2bn, about the size of the GDP of Albania.

Four other top executives - chief operating officer Gary Cohn, chief financial officer David Viniar and vice-chairmen Michael Evans and John Weinberg - received the same restricted stock bonus as Mr Blankfein.