$16 BILSACHS OF LOOT
RECORD BONUSES TO WALL STREETERS
By RODDY BOYD and ZACHARY KOUWE
DOWNTOWN UPSURGE: The Broad Street headquarters of Goldman Sachs, which won big this year on the oil-futures market.
December 13, 2006 -- Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs is set to throw gigantic bags of money at its bankers, traders and stockbrokers this year - lavishing them with more than $16.5 billion in bonus loot, the most ever doled out by a Wall Street firm.
Most of the Wall Street trading houses had a great year - but Goldman's was spectacular, and its blockbuster numbers generated blockbuster bonuses for the fat cats.
Between regular salary and bonuses, the average pay of Goldman employees will be a mind-numbing $622,000 this year - and that includes all the low-end workers.
At the top end of the pay scale, it has been reported that Goldman was likely to pay a "golden 25" managers, bankers and traders at least a cool $25 million each.
But a source close to the firm told The Post that some of the top performers may actually get four times that.
The $100 million bonus babies are in charge of making big bets with Goldman's money on the direction of the prices of commodities, including oil and natural gas. And this year, they won big.
Santa will bring Goldman's most senior executives - who are called "partners" and who bring in much of the firm's revenue - between $10 million and $20 million each, according to one executive recruiter.
Many of the company's 26,400 employees around the world will make less than the $622,000 pay plus bonus average.
But most employees are expecting a bonus increase of 30 to 50 percent over last year - and almost no one will find a piece of coal in his or her stocking.
A Goldman partner told The Post that the generosity extends all the way down the ladder.
"It's a pretty democratic firm, and if you're a manager who isn't paying a [bonus to] a secretary or clerk, there better be a pretty damn good reason," he said.
Goldman's profits this year - after the bonuses - climbed 70 percent to $9.5 billion, up from $5.6 billion last year.
This prompted its chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, to leave a voice-mail message for employees cautioning them not to be "irrational or arrogant" to ensure no damage to the firm's reputation.
Blankfein might be tempted to be a bit "irrational" himself, with Goldman sources telling The Post that he is likely to rake in at least $50 million in bonus cash.
Last year, his predecessor, current Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, get a measly $40 million.
The bonus money the firm will dispense is going to prime the city's economy as lucky recipients buy fast cars, big apartments and luxury goods.
In October, state Comptroller Alan Hevesi said Wall Street's wealthy workers earned an average of $289,664, or about 5 times as much as other employees in New York City last year.
Wall Street employees generated $2.1 billion in 2005 tax revenue and each new position filled in the industry created three additional jobs: two in the city and one in the suburbs.
On Wall Street, traders, bankers and salesmen earn their big bucks in a two-step fashion.
They get an annual salary of between $100,000 to $200,000, and then they get a year-end bonus, which can easily be several dozen times their base salary.
Better still, with half the bonus paid in stock, Goldman's employees have made even more money - their share price has jumped 57 percent so far this year.
roddy.boyd@nypost.com'Good A$ Goldman'
