An activist dressed as Scrooge McDuck throws counterfeit money from a golden mountain onto protesters during a demonstratio

Getty An activist dressed as Scrooge McDuck throws counterfeit money from a golden mountain onto protesters during a demonstration Goldman Sachs employees are finally getting their 2008 payout.

Last year the firm's employees cashed in on stock options totaling $2.03 billion, Bloomberg reported.

The options served as incentive to keep top people on board after the financial crisis, as Wall Street banks were forced to cut back on compensation. According to Bloomberg, 96 percent of options exercised in 2014 were from 2008 pay packages.

Goldman Sachs distributed 36 million options in December 2008, which couldn't be cashed in until last year. Since then, the company stock has more than doubled.

Current partners, who account for less than two percent of employees, reaped most of the profit, taking in $800 million as of August.

Since the financial crisis, compensation has gotten much tighter around Wall Street. Compensation costs have decreased 37 percent since 2007, from a high of $20.2 billion to $12.7 billion in 2014.

Maybe this $2 billion will help ease the pain.

Read the full story over at Bloomberg >>





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