Extremely supposedly, banking bonuses at Morgan Stanley will be 0-30% of last year’s bonus, and sales and trading bonuses at Merrill Lynch will be 0-10%. What we’re thinking here is that management has finally stopped trying to fight the rumor mill, submitted and made the thing work for it, by circulating abysmal numbers in order to lower expectations. At least that’s what we’re hoping, for your sake, otherwise I’m sure we don’t have to tell you this would be a great time to start JO&KYO.

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Comments (60)

  1. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 9:11 AM

    I find it funny that you’re not pointing out who is actually making money right now. In a few months, when it’s too late for you slowpokes, you’ll realize and call us bastards too.
    Don’t hate the playa, hate the lames.*
    *That’s a hint, morons.

  2. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 9:12 AM

    JO&KYO = jerk off and kill yourself outright?

  3. Posted by Bess Levin | October 20, 2008 at 9:13 AM

    @2- it was a typo but I like where your head’s at.

  4. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 9:15 AM

    Heard rumours today about layoffs at Merrill PB/Equity Finance in HK. Completely unsourced so handle with care.

  5. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 9:17 AM

    so there basically wont be any bonuses at merrill?????

  6. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 9:19 AM

    @5- if you make no money (and actually lose money) why would you get a bonus? esp now that you’re getting gov’t handouts?

  7. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 9:19 AM

    I heard the ML layoffs will be in what’s remaining in FI (including back-oofice)

  8. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 9:24 AM

    5/6 Plus the game is easier for the firm to play this year. Everyone’s cutting bonuses, so they can do so without alienating people.

  9. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 9:25 AM

    Why can’t we take the cash the gov’t paid us and use it for bonuses. That only seems fair to me.
    I work a lot of hours so I deserve a big bonus.
    Thanks.

  10. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 9:26 AM

    Did anyone really expect bonuses this year?
    I’d think most would feel happy to still have a job…

  11. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 9:28 AM

    Seriously, how do people expect bonuses when you are hemorrhaging cash? Suck it up punks.
    Now that BOFA rules the street these people can be assured that comp will definitely change for the worse. I am an ex BOFA guy and they pay dog poo. Thats why i went buy side playa

  12. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 9:30 AM

    some desks are making money this year. I am not sure everybody should get 0% bonus

  13. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 9:30 AM

    @12- that’s why it’s a range

  14. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 9:31 AM

    blah hah, those poor bastards have be battling this market all year and now they find out they’ve been working for free. meanwhile the value of the apartment they bought last year is down 15% and oops they borrowed with an ARM (all the cool kids kids were doing it)in anticipating that sweet hedge fund gig….. well Joe the Trader congratulations, you’re poor. But you you now qualify for a tax break in the new obama administration.

  15. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 9:32 AM

    firms dont save a lot of money scrimping on analyst bonuses. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were more like 50%-75% of last year. Its the higher levels that are gonna be suffering. But those people wont be surprised. There’s just not the profitability to support giving away 50% of revenue. And they know it, based on what theyve been bringing in.

  16. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 9:36 AM

    There is no way first year bonuses will be down that much…first years flat to up…confirmed

  17. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 9:40 AM

    @16-unless you work at one of those firms, and got your bonus already, it ain’t confirmed.

  18. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 9:40 AM

    @16 – are you talking about ML and are you in HR?

  19. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 9:41 AM

    You’re going to be paying bonuses out of government money? Don’t think so.
    Everyone left alive on Wall Street took government bailouts. When your firm would go under without a bailout, you should get squat.

  20. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 9:41 AM

    #16 not until the check clears.

  21. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 9:42 AM

    @16- you are absolutely delusional if you think bonuses will be UP.

  22. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 9:48 AM

    What is #1 talking abotu?
    -Moron

  23. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 9:54 AM

    #1 shines shoes for a living.

  24. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 10:05 AM

    #1 – Muni desk?

  25. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 10:06 AM

    The most you can hope for is some sort of relocation bonus for the inevitable move to Charlotte…gotta feel good when your future CEO goes on 60 Minutes last night saying Wall Street gets paid too much, and the former CEO (McColl) says America’s Bank “won the war” with Wall Street.

  26. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 10:10 AM

    #1 works at the Shake Shack. I hear they just crushed it this year and first year bonuses will be way up…confirmed!
    - Not 16

  27. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 10:12 AM

    Dude, they didnt win the war, they snapped Wall St’s neck. Do you have any idea how huge that place is going to be?? All of the mortgage biz, credit cards, you name it. They have tons of liquidity at their fingertips. Gonna make GS look like Schwab

  28. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 10:22 AM

    @ 11 – TD Waterhouse is not the “buyside”…playa

  29. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 10:24 AM

    My model’s crying into her bottle right now.

  30. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 10:26 AM

    @27 – they’ll be huge, like the Citi of Charlotte without the global reach…

  31. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 10:26 AM

    Heads are being lopped off with a vengenance at MER this morning.

  32. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 10:31 AM

    If your expected bonus is 25K you’ll probably get 20K. If your expected bonus is 250K you’ll probably get fired.
    I suspect Bank of Ameicarill Lynch will bus new hires out to the document storage repository to try to locate the physical certificates behind those CDO’s. Congressional subpoenas can be a bitch.

  33. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 10:35 AM

    @ 11
    being in purchasing doesnt mean you’re buyside.
    tool.

  34. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 10:48 AM

    @33, come wash the maserati with a diaper tonight and daddy will throw you a couple of bucks, you back office knob. Ill find a job for you 28, you can clean my tremendous downtown apt, daddy will toss you a $50 so you can meet your other toolbox back office idiots for a drink and talk about how you work on “the street”. Save enough for the subway back to Bensonhurst.
    So @#0, you dont think Mer is a global firm.? You are a retard, keep your mouth shut

  35. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 10:55 AM

    @34 – #30 here (or as you would say @#0). Mer is a global firm but let’s see where the combined entity is in 3 years. Good luck keeping up the lease payments on the Maserati. Did the dealer throw in your calf implants for free?

  36. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 10:55 AM

    Bottles and models baby….

  37. Posted by Tapecracker | October 20, 2008 at 11:01 AM

    “calf implants” = funny shit!

  38. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 11:03 AM

    @35, your jealousy is apparent. Ask your g-friend about the calves, she knows they are legit.
    Which p and s department do you work in Joey??

  39. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 11:03 AM

    The world needs ditch diggers with Ivy League degrees.

  40. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 11:04 AM

    @34
    jeez that purchasing comment hit hard didnt it? You dont move from BoA to any buyside you moron, keep dreaming. And i know because i work in buyside.
    And whats that with the diapers anyway, did you get a-raped so hard you lost control over over your functions?

  41. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 11:05 AM

    here is why bonus’ should be paid out:
    Originators stuffed trading desks with all of their bad assets after securitization.
    Originators should be canned, traders should be paid for somehow selling the toxic gargage they were left with

  42. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 11:10 AM

    41 – no one is thinking about individual job titles. TPTB are thinking – “we lost a sh*tload of money. We dont’ have time to listen to the blame game, so everyone is going to get 15%”. It’s like when your parents say “I don’t care who started it, all of you get upstairs and go to bed!”

  43. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 11:10 AM

    @38 – What is p and s?

  44. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 11:10 AM

    @ 34
    Backoffice? I don’t even know anyone who works at BofA
    “Backoffice of America”
    Love,
    28

  45. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 11:12 AM

    Bank of A-Rape

  46. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 11:13 AM

    Backoffice of A-Rape

  47. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 11:19 AM

    Here’s a SCARY thought – what if bonuses were 0-15% for every bank that took Paulson $$$.
    Boys, we are ALL SCREWED!!!

  48. Posted by Phobos | October 20, 2008 at 11:45 AM

    This just effects the bonuses right? The Golden Showers are safe?

  49. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 11:57 AM

    @10 – you betcha, happy to still have a zero-bonus job for the 4 weeks it will take me to find, interview, and be offered a new, non-zero bonus job. you moron

  50. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 12:14 PM

    Maybe the 80 hr weeks of manufacturing derivatives and M&A deals that destroy value are over?

  51. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 12:20 PM

    Maybe the 80 hr weeks of manufacturing derivatives and M&A deals that destroy value are over?

  52. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 12:39 PM

    80? Go home regional – will fly over you next week.

  53. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 12:43 PM

    @50, 51 – just curious, did you read an article somewhere this morning? I ask because it sounds as if you believe you may have an opinion to share, that the germ of an idea has registered in the dim recesses of your mind…inchoate as yet, sure, and possibly grotesque and unwholesome, odiferous and likely septic. At least I hope it’s just the misshapen outline of a bad idea, for your sake, and that it’s not the first telltales of a glioblastoma or something nasty and metastic like that. You know, perhaps it wouldn’t be a bad idea for you to leave thinking to those who can manage it without endangering their health or becoming an embarrassment to others. Just a suggestion…

  54. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 1:06 PM

    I hate healthcare bankers

  55. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 2:14 PM

    Are there cuts going on at ML? I have heard that some happened in Europe and Asia already.

  56. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 3:36 PM

    where are these rumors coming from?
    It is hard to believe that the best performers will get 30% bonuses, especially the top-performing MD’s?!
    For example, a Merrill MD who makes $200k base would receive an ~$300k bonus max, according to these #’s. That’s the same as a top-notch 3rd yr associate last year?!

  57. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 3:42 PM

    where are these rumors coming from?
    It is hard to believe that the best performers will get 30% bonuses, especially the top-performing MD’s?!
    For example, a Merrill MD who makes $200k base would receive an ~$300k bonus max, according to these #’s. That’s the same as a top-notch 3rd yr associate last year?!

  58. Posted by Investorcluzo | October 20, 2008 at 4:12 PM

    all bets are off for sr people (vp’s included) – it’s about production, and I don’t mean the number of pitch books. during the 01-02 years, there were some md’s who took home the bagel – or rather, they couldn’t buy a bagel with their bonus. I would have to believe the analysts are largely safe from a zero, but not by much. good luck.
    btw – the “just because you’re in purchasing” line was classic.

  59. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 4:16 PM

    Bank of America is going to lose a lot of people to other firms….
    You have Ken Lewis talking about Wall Street gets paid too much…good god…Revenge of the Commercial Banks…fuck

  60. Posted by guest | October 20, 2008 at 4:17 PM

    “Bank of America is going to lose a lot of people to other firms….”
    and where, praytell, are they going to go?

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