Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The five biggest U.S. securities firms paid their 185,687 employees $66 billion in 2007, including an estimated $39 billion in bonuses. That amounts to average pay of $353,089 per employee. The average bonus was $211,849.

In 2006, the five firms paid $60 billion to 165,293 people, including an estimated $36 billion in bonuses. Average pay was $364,940 and the average bonus was $218,957 in 2006, according to the latest data reported by the firms.

Merrill Lynch & Co., the largest brokerage, said today in a statement that it paid $15.9 billion in compensation and benefits to its 64,200 employees in 2007, exceeding the firm's $11.3 billion of revenue for 2007. The firm reported its second consecutive quarterly loss after writing down the value of at least $15 billion of failed investments.

Following are two tables that show actual compensation and benefits paid by New York-based Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, Merrill, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos. in 2006 and 2007, according to company reports. The tables estimate bonus pools at 60 percent of total pay.

Figures are in billions except for the number of employees, percentages, and per-employee averages.

Wall Street Compensation and Bonuses in 2007:

               Goldman   Morgan    Merrill   Lehman    Bear
               Sachs     Stanley   Lynch     Brothers  Stearns

Net Revenue    $45.99    $28.03    $11.25    $19.26    $5.95

Comp/Revenue   43.9%     59%       141%      49.3%     57.6%

Compensation   $20.19    $16.55    $15.90    $9.49     $3.43

Bonuses        $12.11    $9.93     $9.54     $5.70     $2.06

Employees      30,522    48,256    64,200    28,556    14,153

Comp/Employee  $661,490  $343,004  $247,710  $332,470  $241,998

Bonus/Employee $396,894  $205,802  $148,614  $199,482  $145,199


Wall Street Compensation and Bonuses in 2006:

               Goldman   Morgan    Merrill   Lehman    Bear
               Sachs     Stanley   Lynch     Brothers  Stearns

Net Revenue    $37.67    $29.84    $33.78    $17.58    $9.23

Comp/Revenue   43.7%     46.9%     49.9%     49.3%     47.1%

Compensation   $16.46    $13.99    $16.87    $8.67     $4.34

Bonuses        $9.87     $8.39     $10.12    $5.20     $2.61

Employees      26,467    43,124    56,200    25,936    13,566

Comp/Employee  $621,793  $324,321  $300,125  $334,246  $320,139

Bonus/Employee $373,068  $194,592  $180,071  $200,548  $192,024

(All figures are based on numbers reported in the firms' 2007
full-year results.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Christine Harper in New York at charper@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 17, 2008 11:01 EST