Goldman CEO, 6 others forgo 2008 bonuses

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc said on Sunday its Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein and six other top officials will not get bonuses for 2008.

Blankfein, Presidents and Co-Chief Operating Officers Jon Winkelried and Gary Cohn, Chief Financial Officer David Viniar, and three vice chairmen -- J. Michael Evans, Michael Sherwood and John Weinberg -- asked the board's compensation committee Sunday morning that they not receive a bonus, spokesman Lucas van Praag said.

The compensation committee met and agreed, Praag said.

Last year, Blankfein made $68.5 million, Winkelried and Cohn got $67.5 million, and Viniar got $57.5 million. The compensation of the other three was not disclosed.

The move comes as the global credit crisis leads to big losses and erodes profit for banks and securities firms.

Banks worldwide have fired more than 150,000 people since the crunch began. Goldman Sachs recently fired 3,200 employees, or 10 percent of its global workforce.

Wall Street compensation also became a political issue after the U.S. government put together a $700 billion fund to bail out financial services companies.

(Reporting by Joseph A. Giannone and Paritosh Bansal; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)