Morgan Stanley CEO Gives Up Bonus

By JOE BEL BRUNO

NEW YORK -- Morgan Stanley (MS) CEO John J. Mack is giving up a bonus for the second straight year amid a climate of bank failures, thousands of layoffs and an economic recession.

Mack said in a memo Monday to employees obtained by The Associated Press that he and the firm's two presidents, James Gorman and Walid Chammah, informed their board's compensation committee of their decision to forgo 2008 bonuses, and the committee accepted.

He also said the company is planning to make further changes to year-end compensation for other employees.

Mack did not receive a bonus for 2007, either.

The CEO compensation debate comes as global banks have lost billions of dollars amid a credit crisis that still has yet to be contained. In the last few months, major U.S. banks have taken advantage of a $700 billion government bailout program to help them avoid fates similar to that of storied investment bank Lehman Brothers, which declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October.

Merrill Lynch's (MER) board of directors is meeting Monday to discuss how much money Chief Executive John Thain will receive. Though it isn't known what Thain's recommendations are for bonuses for his top staff, The Wall Street Journal reported that he may have asked for as much as $10 million for himself in 2008.

A spokeswoman for Merrill Lynch declined to comment.

Goldman Sachs (GS) CEO Lloyd Blankfein -- and six of his top lieutenants -- announced last month that they won't take cash or stock bonuses for 2008.

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