Morgan Stanley increased James Gorman’s compensation 17% for his final year as chief executive, boosting his pay to $37 million.
Three-fourths of Gorman’s bonus will be paid in deferred stock over three years, the firm said in a regulatory filing Friday. On top of his $1.5 million base salary, he received a cash bonus of just under $9 million.
During his time as CEO and in 2023, Gorman “reshaped the firm into a stronger and more balanced institution positioned for long-term growth,” the bank said in the filing. “In addition, Mr. Gorman successfully accomplished an orderly, multiyear CEO succession-planning process.”
Gorman, 65, was succeeded as CEO earlier this month by Ted Pick. During his 14 years running the firm, Gorman engineered a transformation of Morgan Stanley with wealth management at its core following the firm’s near collapse during the 2008 financial crisis. Gorman is now the bank’s executive chairman.
In a rarity for Wall Street, the two executives who missed out on the CEO job agreed to remain at Morgan Stanley, with co-president Andy Saperstein gaining oversight of asset management in addition to his role leading wealth management, and Dan Simkowitz replacing Pick as co-president leading the investment banking and trading division. In October, Morgan Stanley granted special bonuses worth $20 million each to Pick and his two deputies.
In Friday’s filing, Morgan Stanley said its board’s compensation committee approved, retroactive to Jan. 1, a new base salary of $1.5 million for Pick — a move made to bring his pay in line with Gorman’s base salary when he was CEO. Pick previously received a base salary of $1 million a year.
Gorman’s 2023 pay bump follows a cut the previous year. His compensation was reduced by 10% for 2022, a year in which profit tumbled at Morgan Stanley and its shares sank more than 13%. Last year, the stock rose 9.7% even as net income slumped 18% to $9.09 billion. Revenue, however, rose slightly to $54.1 billion.
The pay increase for Gorman comes after a bump for the head of JPMorgan Chase & Co. On Thursday, the largest US bank announced that it raised CEO Jamie Dimon’s pay 4.3% to $36 million for 2023, a year in which his company notched the highest profit in the history of US banking.
By listening for what truly matters and where clients want to make a difference, advisors can avoid politics and help build more personal strategies.
JPMorgan and RBC have also welcomed ex-UBS advisors in Texas, while Steward Partners and SpirePoint make new additions in the Sun Belt.
Counsel representing Lisa Cook argued the president's pattern of publicly blasting the Fed calls the foundation for her firing into question.
The two firms violated the Advisers Act and Reg BI by making misleading statements and failing to disclose conflicts to retail and retirement plan investors, according to the regulator.
Elsewhere, two breakaway teams from Morgan Stanley and Merrill unite to form a $2 billion RIA, while a Texas-based independent merges with a Bay Area advisory practice.
Orion's Tom Wilson on delivering coordinated, high-touch service in a world where returns alone no longer set you apart.
Barely a decade old, registered index-linked annuities have quickly surged in popularity, thanks to their unique blend of protection and growth potential—an appealing option for investors looking to chart a steadier course through today's choppy market waters, says Myles Lambert, Brighthouse Financial.
