Goldman CEO's Pay Falls 98.4%

Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein's compensation fell 98.4 percent in 2008, as banks faced huge writedowns and losses due to investments in toxic assets.

The fifth-largest U.S. bank reported that the total value of the 2008 compensation was $1.1 million, under accounting rules required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

In 2007, he received a total of $70.3 million.

Last year, Blankfein was awarded a basic salary of $600,000 and no new bonus or option awards.

The filing showed he earned another $277,828 for restricted stock units granted for prior years.
Blankfein's perks and other benefits in 2008 included $111,223 for personal use of company automobiles and $40,543 in medical and dental plan payments, the filing showed.

New York-based Goldman Sachs reported Blankfein's compensation in a summary table included in a proxy filing on Friday with the SEC.

U.S. public companies are required to disclose the total value of annual pay awards to top executives under U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules. The reported figures may differ from how executive pay consultants and others tabulate an executive's annual compensation.

Goldman received $10 billion of capital from the U.S. government in October, under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. But that money has come with strings attached, including
potential executive compensation limits that have made many banks eager to pay taxpayers back as soon as possible. Goldman plans to pay back its $10 billion of TARP money this year.

Copyright 2009 Reuters. Click for restrictions.