With so much attention being paid to CEO pay, it was inevitable that the spotlight would again turn to Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs (GS). The board has some tricky decisions at hand. And Breakingviews is happy to weigh in with some advice. It notes that if you apply the 0.6 percent of net income Blankfein was paid in 2007, he "would be in line for a 2009 payday of around $64 million, only just shy of the bumper $68 million he received two years ago."

But that 0.6 percent was a lot less than other CEOs back then. And you can make a strong argument  that Blankfein deserves something in the 0.6 percent range, given his decent job at guiding the bank to where it is now, but you can't ignore the PR flap that has engulfed the firm either.

Breakingviews suggests, "the right number may be somewhere around $20 million. And in a nod to concerns about limiting short-term incentives, Goldman could pay 90% of that in stock--compared with 60% in 2007." Now that may be a bit less than generous given Blankfein's performance. I think the world would tolerate more if it were accompanied with some sort of sincere personal charitable olive branch, a mention of how much he will pay in taxes, and perhaps even more in stock. In any case, the world is watching. 

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