Lunchtime Links: Merrill Lynch bonuses will only be down 50%

3 December 2008

2 minute read

Lunchtime Links: Merrill Lynch bonuses will only be down 50%

Surprise, surprise - despite investment banking revenues falling 96% year on year in the first three months of 2009, and despite Ken Lewis's apparent disgruntlement at Merrill pay levels, bonuses at Merrill Lynch will apparently plummet a mere 50% this year. The bad news is that rather than the combined Merrill Lynch/Bank of America behemoth making 10,000 redundancies as we reported yesterday, CNBC now seems to think that cuts could hit 30,000 instead.

Terra Firma cutting jobs. (FT)

They think there are people with 'magic ears'. (Alphaville)

3i cutting 15% of its workforce (mostly in the back office). (FT)

Citigroup cutting from equity derivatives. (Financial News)

Citigroup cutting most of Asian real estate team. (Bloomberg)

Deutsche cuts Swiss trading jobs. (Reuters)

More seats on the train. (Guardian)

Coutts hiring in Gloucestershire. (Financial News)

New Star: once worth 500m, now worth 1p. (Guardian)

New Star struggles to retain top performers. (The Times)

Thomson Reuters journalists threaten strike over frozen salaries. (Guardian)

British charities no haven for laid-off bankers. (Reuters)

"It's very difficult to come up with a model which explains why financial-sector salaries are so high, given the demand for the jobs in question." (Felix Salmon)

Journalists are not to blame for the financial crisis. (Oliver Kamm)

How to handle friends who've been laid off. (NY Post)

What do you mean 'There are no jobs?' I have a double first from Cambridge... (Fintag)

AUTHOReFinancialCareers UK

Insider Comment

BT
BT
4 December 2008
The thing is, if you add all the guaranteed, the junior staff who are paid bonuses (low at individual level but coming up to a nice sum in total), support and others paid in local currency, the down 50% becomes a down 75% for mid- to senior producers. So the numbers presented in the comments are right, but so is the -50% overall
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ma
max1
3 December 2008
The guys are right, those left (massive cuts this week and the next) will on average get 10% of last years bonus, up to a VP level. VERY senior people prob 60% down. Get real please, 50% down only? where do you get your info from?
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Ji
JimRoyle
3 December 2008
50% my arse!!
Guaranteed and 100% merchants on the one side..and the largest number of nice round ,jam filled ones that you have ever seen on the other side
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M&
M&A
3 December 2008
Merrill Lynch always provides numbers and percentage regarding only the top performers.
To performers (15%) of workforce, will be down 50%.
The rest of the people (85%) will be down more than 50%... and I expect 30% will get a zero bonus...
Reply