Goldman Sachs Group Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein received $19 million in compensation for 2010 - almost double the prior year.  The bonus also ended a 2-year drought in which the firm’s top executives gave up cash bonuses.  According to the firm's proxy statement, Blankfein’s compensation included:  $5.4mn in cash, $12.6mn in restricted stock, $600K in salary, $464K in other benefits.  In 2009, Mr. Blankfein got $9.8mn in pay, including $9mn in restricted stock.

        Cash Awards Are Back Though Not Near 2007's Record.   At Goldman Sachs, the fifth-biggest U.S. bank by assets, after a 38% drop in annual earnings and a year in which the stock price ended close to where it began.  While pay is up from 2008, it remains below Blankfein’s record-setting $68mn award for 2007.

"The fact that they would return to a more market-based pay is probably not surprising.  They’re not quite back to anything remotely like what they paid in the prior years." -- Rose Marie Orens, senior partner at Compensation Advisory Partner.

"While our performance in 2010 was not as strong as in 2009 due to difficult market conditions for much of the year, we continued to create value for our shareholders and prudently manage our firm from a risk perspective."  -- Goldman Proxy.

All 30 members of the management committee received only restricted stock for their 2009 bonuses and four of them -- CFO David Viniar, 55;  President and COO Gary Cohn, 50;  Vice Chairmen J. Michael Evans, 53, and John Weinberg, 54  -- received the same $9mn award as Blankfein.  For 2010, Goldman Sachs once again matched those 4 executives’ bonuses to Blankfein’s $12.6mn in restricted stock and $5.4mn in cash.  All four also received a $600K salary in 2010.

        First Increase in Salary Since 1999.   The firm disclosed in January that Blankfein’s salary will increase to $2 million in 2011 and that Cohn, Viniar, Evans and Weinberg will each receive a $1.85 million salary starting this year.  Each of them had received a $600,000 salary since 1999, the year the firm became a public company.

        Additional Staff Payouts.   After Blankfein, the largest fund distributions were $23.3 million to General Counsel Gregory Palm; $20.2 million to Cohn; $16.7 million to Viniar; and $13.7 million to Evans. The others disclosed in the filing were $10.9 million to Vice Chairman Michael Sherwood; $6.4 million apiece to Weinberg and General Counsel Esta Stecher, and $430,000 to Alan Cohen, Global Head of Compliance.   [NYT Dealbook, 4/1]