March 27 (Bloomberg) -- Bear Stearns Cos. paid Chief Executive Officer James Cayne $40 million last year, a 32 percent raise, after the firm reported its fifth straight year of record profit.

Cayne, 73, received a $250,000 salary, a $17.1 million cash bonus, $14.8 million in stock, $1.69 million worth of options to buy stock and $6.15 million in other compensation, the New York- based securities firm said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today. The stock and options awards were initially revealed in December. Cayne made $30.3 million in 2005.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the largest U.S. securities firm, set a new all-time high for Wall Street compensation last year, granting CEO Lloyd Blankfein $54 million. Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack was paid $41.4 million while Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. paid CEO Richard Fuld $40.5 million. Fiscal 2006 profit at Bear Stearns, the fifth-biggest U.S. brokerage, surged 40 percent to an all-time high of $2.1 billion, half that of Lehman, one third of Morgan Stanley and one fifth of Goldman.

``You think there ought to be some consistency in CEO pay across similar firms, based on their size, but there isn't,'' said John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., an executive search firm in Chicago. ``It has a lot to do with history, how long the executives have been around, what they negotiated at the beginning.''

Wall Street's Richest

Cayne has worked for Bear Stearns since 1969 when he landed his first job on Wall Street. He became president in 1985 and CEO in 1993.

Under Cayne, Bear Stearns's stock has more than doubled in the last five years, the best performance among the largest brokerage firms. Shares of the company have lost 8.6 percent this year, compared with a 1.5 percent decline in the 12-member Amex Securities Broker/Dealer index.

Cayne is the richest Wall Street CEO, with $1.3 billion in assets, according to Forbes magazine's 2007 billionaires survey. As the third-largest shareholder of the firm, Cayne holds a stake valued at about $900 million, according to regulatory filings.

Last year, co-Presidents Alan Schwartz and Warren Spector were paid $37.3 million and $36.9 million, respectively, according to today's filing. Chief Financial Officer Samuel Molinaro got $27.8 million.

Cayne's total pay package shrank 3 percent in 2005 as earnings growth lagged behind rivals. Analysts predict Bear's 2007 net income will be unchanged from 2006.

``If earnings decline this year on Wall Street, all these guys need to take pay cuts because it's all about perceptions,'' said Jeanne Branthover, head of financial services at Boyden Executive Search in New York. ``When their companies aren't doing so well, they can't be taking home such big bonuses.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Yalman Onaran in New York at yonaran@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 27, 2007 17:50 EDT