UPDATE 2-Merrill to pay Montag $39.4 mln bonus for 2008

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NEW YORK, May 2 (Reuters) - Merrill Lynch & Co Inc (MER.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) plans to pay its new global head of sales and trading, hired last month from rival Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), a 2008 bonus of $39.4 million.

Thomas Montag, hired as part of Merrill Chief Executive John Thain's bid to attract new talent to turn around the world's largest brokerage, will receive the bonus in January 2009 after working less than half a year at Merrill.

In addition to the bonus, payable in cash and stock-based compensation, he'll get an annual salary of $600,000, Merrill said in a regulatory filing.

That means that Montag, formerly co-head of global securities trading at Goldman, will make nearly $400,000 per working day, making him one of the best paid executives on Wall Street.

Montag will also receive unspecified compensation for his forfeiture of equity awards from Goldman, a third of which will be paid in cash, according to the filing. The rest will be in stock options and restricted stock.

Montag, 51, who retired from Goldman Sachs in December after working at the firm for 22 years, won't join the firm until early August.

By comparison, Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein was awarded about $53.97 million in its 2007 fiscal year, including a $26.99 million bonus. Morgan Stanley (MS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Chief Executive John Mack received about $1.6 million in salary and other compensation for fiscal 2007 and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (LEH.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) CEO Dick Fuld got $22 million.

Thain himself received a $15 million bonus when he joined Merrill from NYSE Euronext (NYX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) last November. (Reporting by Christian Plumb; Editing by Braden Reddall and Gunna Dickson)