Goldman Insiders Cashed In $3 Billion of Crisis-Era Options: WSJ
Goldman Insiders Cashed In $3 Billion of Crisis-Era Options: WSJ
(Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executives and board members may have reaped as much as $3 billion from stock options granted during the 2008 financial crisis, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In December of that year, the bank granted 36 million options with a strike price of $78.78 to about 350 partners and directors. The securities have generated an estimated $3 billion of gains as the firm’s stock has tripled, the newspaper reported Monday, citing a review of regulatory filings.
The awards were granted to incentivize top performers even as the global credit crisis endangered the New York-based firm and pushed its shares down 61 percent in 2008, forcing Goldman to slash compensation costs.
To contact the reporter on this story: Anders Melin in New York at amelin3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pierre Paulden at ppaulden@bloomberg.net, Peter Eichenbaum
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