Bonus Watch '14: Jefferies

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Hopefully Jefferies employees enjoyed last year's bonuses because there's reportedly a lot more where that came from.

In a year when banker bonuses are expected to soar, the investment bank Jefferies Group LLC (JEF) could only deliver disappointing news. Bankers at the firm learned Tuesday their bonuses would be flat to slightly up, according to a source briefed on the situation. They probably had an inkling that bonuses would be less than stellar when Jefferies handed investors disappointing financial guidance, sending shares of its parent company Leucadia National Corp. (LUK) down 2.5% to close at $21.04, extending its 2014 decline to 26%...For Jefferies, 2014 was not a typical year. The city's tabloids had good fun as several of the firm's top bankers were named and shamed during the divorce proceedings of Sage Kelly, a well-known Jefferies partner. Testimony of partner-swapping (that is, between consenting adults) as well as colorful drug benders dominated the newspaper headlines and water cooler chatter during the racy Kelly hearings.

Sage Kelly’s Escapades Blunt Jefferies Year-End Banker Bonuses [TSC]

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Bonus Watch '12: Jefferies Has Got Your Cold Hard Cash Right Here

Back in the day, as in pre-crisis, bonus season on Wall Street was a happy time. Sure, you still had your miserable pricks who would bitch and moan about the fact that they hadn't gotten as much as the guy who sat next to them, even they the guy who sat next to them was a "non-contributing zero who wouldn't recognize alpha if it bit him in the ass," but prior to to fall 2008, anyone who was unhappy about his or her bonus was a) quibbling over receiving a huge sum of money instead of an imperial fuck-ton of money and b) in a position to actually make good on a threat to jump ship, since firms were hiring. Now, with a few exceptions, bonus season makes people feel sad. Angry. Impotent. Like the world is out to get them. Not only has the total amount of one's bonus come down, but many companies have decreased the cash portion, while increasing the deferral period on stock to, in some cases, almost half a decade. Then you have Jefferies. Last year it let employees decide between an all stock bonus or an all cash bonus with 25% lopped off.  This year the investment bank-cum-butcher shop isn't even forcing anyone to choose, instead dumping a bag of cash on everyone's desk and reminding them who loves 'em.