Battered Merrill's Top 10 Pocketed $209M

Merrill Lynch's top 10 earners raked in more than $200 million last year as their company lost $27.6 billion, a Wall Street Journal investigation finds. Eleven execs were each paid at least $10 million in cash and shares, which have now dived in value. A further 149 execs made more than $3 million each, mostly in bonuses on top of base salaries ranging from $250,000 to $750,000.

Merrill exec David Sobotka—now a trading chief at Merrill buyer Bank of America—was paid $13 million last year despite his division finishing 2008 down a whopping $36 billion. Bank of America was subpoenaed last week after refusing to give bonus details to investigators, claiming that making the information public would help rival firms woo away talent.
(More Merrill Lynch stories.)