Wall Street bonuses fall short of already-low expectations: ‘Absolute s–t’

Published

4 months ago

January 26, 2024

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Few on Wall Street were optimistic about bonus season this year — but stingy payouts have still managed to leave many disappointed.

The consensus among most junior bankers is that most faced yet another year of s–tty comp, according to Wall Streets meme master Litquidity.

The finance-focused social-media account has been barraged with junior bankers complaining that bonuses this year were a bloodbath and across the board bad news.

Nowhere was that more evident than at Citi, where employees have been informed roughly 20,000 of their ranks will be culled.

While few expected anything too generous given the state of the bank, the lackluster comp only exacerbated the poor morale.

Citi bonuses were straight-up disrespectful, one employee complained to Litquidity.

Another chimed in that Citi payouts were savage across the board, while yet another banker called them absolute st.

For others, layoffs put things in perspective, Bonuses were way down but I still got one.

At Goldman Sachs, one employee said of the rank-and-file, Cant say anyone was really happy.

Another described compensation as unevenly distributed with the partners once again getting a good payout and lower-ranking employees getting shafted.

We said we would pay for performance and thats what guided our comp decisions across our businesses,” Tony Fratto, Goldman’s head of communications said.

At Americas largest bank, JPMorgan, compensation and morale remained relatively stable.

One employee even went so far as to call his bonus awesome.

While it’s too early to know the overall trend for how each bank paid employees year over year — Bank of America has yet to tell employees their total compensation — the pools at most banks were smaller as a result of a continued slowdown in dealmaking.

Litquidity said the bonus season was expected — in part because of the widespread reports this year would be worse than last.

An annual report from compensation consulting firm Johnson Associates at the end of last year predicted bankers could see bonuses dropping 15% to 25% this season.

Most Wall Street professionals will have to wait another year for a rebound in year-end bonuses, Alan Johnson, managing director of the firm, said. For most it will be another disappointing year.

Of course, the issue is that most bankers think theyre the exception to the rule and will be the outlier who gets compensated well.

At the same time, many young bankers have inflated expectations after receiving record bonuses for the 2021 fiscal year.

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Those payouts had been fueled by record earnings — and a willingness to pay top dollar amid a labor shortage that led to a war for talent.

An annual report from compensation consulting firm Johnson Associates at the end of last year predicted bankers could see bonuses dropping 15% to 25% this season.

Most Wall Street professionals will have to wait another year for a rebound in year-end bonuses, Alan Johnson, managing director of the firm, said. For most it will be another disappointing year.

Of course, the issue is that most bankers think theyre the exception to the rule — and will be the outlier who gets compensated well. At the same time, many young bankers have inflated expectations after receiving record bonuses for the 2021 fiscal year.

Those payouts had been fueled by record earnings and a willingness to pay top dollar amid a labor shortage that led to a war for talent.

Indeed, management in 2022 had painted the bonus drought as a one-off, sources said.

Unfortunately, that doesnt appear to be panning out.

The bar was so low for giving people a small percentage uptick that managers were certain 2023 would be better, a source said.

Entertainment

GB News show with Rishi Sunak broke broadcasting rules, Ofcom finds

Published

1 hour ago

May 20, 2024

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GB News show with Rishi Sunak broke broadcasting rules, Ofcom finds

GB News could face punishment after a programme with Rishi Sunak broke broadcasting rules.

Regulator Ofcom said it was considering a “statutory sanction” after finding ‘People’s Forum: The Prime Minister’ breached impartiality guidelines.

GB News called it “an alarming development” that “strikes at the heart of democracy”.

The hour-long show, which aired on 12 February, saw members of the public put questions to the prime minister. However, it received 547 complaints.

Ofcom said in March that five other GB News programmes featuring politicians acting as presenters – including two hosted by Jacob Rees-Mogg – also broke impartiality rules.

The watchdog said the show featuring Mr Sunak was fine in principle, but “due weight” should have been given to an “appropriately wide range of significant views” other than the Tories’.

These should have happened during the programme itself or “in other clearly linked and timely programmes”.

It said Mr Sunak “had a mostly uncontested platform to promote the policies and performance of his Government in a period preceding a UK General Election”.

“We have therefore recorded a breach of rules 5.11 and 5.12 of the Broadcasting Code against GB News,” it added.

The channel was quick to hit back at the ruling and denied breaking the impartiality rules.

“The regulator’s threat to punish a news organisation with sanctions for enabling people to challenge their own prime minister strikes at the heart of democracy at a time when it could not be more vital,” it said.

“Our live programme gave an independently selected group of undecided voters the freedom to challenge the Prime Minister without interference,” added the channel.

It said neither producers nor the prime minister had seen the questions beforehand and Mr Sunak was kept “under constant pressure and covered a clearly diverse range of topics”.

Sports

Source: Boeser (blood clots) not expected in G7

Published

1 hour ago

May 20, 2024

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Source: Boeser (blood clots) not expected in G7

Greg Wyshynski, ESPNMay 19, 2024, 09:52 PM ET
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Vancouver Canucks right wing Brock Boeser is not expected to play in Game 7 of their second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers on Monday because of a blood-clotting issue, a source told ESPN, confirming a report.

There’s no timeline for his return to action. The Canucks had no comment on Boeser’s status.

Boeser didn’t skate in practice Sunday. Coach Rick Tocchet would only say at a media availability that “he needed the maintenance day.”

Boeser, 27, leads the Canucks in goals (7) and is tied for the lead in points (12) during the postseason. He established career highs in goals (40), points (73) and games played (81) during the regular season.

The Canucks winger has had some MVP moments during their playoff run. His hat trick in Game 4 against the Nashville Predators led them to a comeback win. Boeser’s three points in the first period of Game 3 led Vancouver to a win over Edmonton.

It’s the second significant injury for Vancouver in the playoffs after a regular season of relatively good health for the team’s core players. Starting goaltender Thatcher Demko, a finalist for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best netminder, hasn’t played since Game 1 of the first round because of a knee injury. Edmonton won Game 6 at home Saturday night to force Monday’s Game 7, the only seventh game of the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The winner faces the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference finals.

The Boeser injury news was first reported by Vancouver-based hockey journalist Irfaan Gaffar.

Sports

U.S. advances at hockey worlds; Canada now 6-0

Published

1 hour ago

May 20, 2024

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U.S. advances at hockey worlds; Canada now 6-0

Associated Press

May 19, 2024, 06:46 PM ET

PRAGUE — Dylan Cozens scored two goals and had an assist to rally Canada past Switzerland 3-2 for its sixth win in six games at the ice hockey world championship on Sunday.

Canada leads Group A with 17 points, two more than the Czech Republic in second with Switzerland another point back in third. The three teams had already clinched a spot in the playoff round.

Cozens has scored six goals at the tournament and is tied atop the scoring table with American Brady Tkachuk and Finland’s Oliver Kapanen.

Nick Paul also scored for Canada and goaltender Jordan Binnington made 20 saves including a penalty shot in the second period when the score was 2-2.

Cozens found the roof of the net on a power play 1:42 into the game to give Canada an early lead.

Switzerland answered with two goals.

Kevin Fiala wristed an equalizer past Binnington in the opening frame on a power play.

Romain Loeffel put the Swiss 2-1 up in the middle period with a slap shot from the blue line.

Cozens tied it again at 2-2 from the top of the left circle on a power play.

Paul scored the winner for Canada on a power play, completing a series of passes by scoring into an open goal midway through the second.

Canada will complete the preliminary round on Tuesday against the Czech Republic, when Switzerland will face Finland.

In Group B, Latvia prevailed over Slovakia 3-2 in a penalty shootout. The result sent the United States to the next round.

Tkachuk scored three power play goals and added an assist to help the United States rout Kazakhstan 10-1.

Its fourth victory lifted the Americans to second place in Group B with 13 points, one ahead of Germany and Slovakia with a game against Latvia, which has nine points, on Tuesday to play in the preliminary round.

Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and four assists to become the United States record scorer with 43 points, one more than Patrick Kane.

Matt Boldy scored twice and had four assists, Brock Nelson and Luke Kunin both had a goal and an assist, and Gavin Brindley and Kevin Hayes also scored.

Alex Nedeljkovic made 13 saves.

In a four-goal opening period, Tkatchuk tipped in a shot by Zach Werenski on a power play to increase the U.S. lead to 2-0, and buried a rebound to make it 4-0 on a power play.

He completed his hat trick to increase the advantage to 8-0 with a one-timed shot from the right circle on another power play in the final period.

Alikhan Omirbekov scored the consolation goal for Kazakhstan when his team was 9-0 down.

In Group A, Austria beat Norway 4-1 and is tied for fourth place with Finland.

The top four from each group advance to the playoff round.