“Because of the pandemic, people don’t want to come off as sounding like, ‘Look at how much money I made while hundreds of thousands of people were dying,’” he said.
Dan Neidich, a former Goldman management committee member, thinks the combination of Covid and political dysfunction is enough to dull the mood on Wall Street. Yet the head of Dune Real Estate Partners predicts bankers will brighten up when they land their bonuses.
“My guess is people will be paid pretty well, and they’ll feel better in January or February than they do today,” he said.
Jon Sobel, another former partner at the bank, isn’t so sure. Unlike in Wall Street’s prior golden eras, a greater share of pay comes with strings attached. Since the global financial crisis, the thinking has been that one way to stop bankers from taking absurd risks and leaving before the cracks appear is to reward them with stock that can take years to vest.
“Nobody’s going to shed a tear for these successful earners,” he said. “But, if you’re one of them, it just doesn’t feel as good as it once did.”
—With assistance from Yueqi Yang and Michelle Davis.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.