A Finextra member 11 October, 2008, 18:17 0 likes Oh my... I'm not sure Henry Paulson will agree with you ...................................................................................... From : http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/43xRFhd1RRlnqg1H1BkmTP4?siteid=google&dist=TNMostMailed ................................................................ "In June 30 2006, Paulson filed to sell 3.23 million shares of Goldman Sachs. Based on the bank's closing price of $152.50 on Thursday, this is worth about $492 million. In addition to this 3.2 million shares, Paulson also owns restricted stock units representing 494,054 shares of common stock, all of which are vested and deliverable. Based on Goldman Sachs' closing price of $152.50 on Thursday, the restricted units are worth about $75 million. He also owns options to purchase 680,474 shares of common stock, all of which are exercisable. Paulson's common stock, together with the shares of common stock underlying the restricted stock units and options represent approximately 1.02% of the outstanding shares of common stock of Goldman Sachs. Paulson became chairman and chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs in May 1999, $35 million in salary including cash and stock options in 2005 (actually 46.74 million in salary in 5 years according to Forbes) Interestingly, under U.S. government ethics rules, while Paulson is required to sell the shares, he is also exempt from paying taxes on any capital gains on the sale if he obtains a certificate of divestiture. The rule granting the exemption is designed to make sure prospective government employees who own a lot of stock are not dissuaded from joining the government. Earlier this week, the Economist magazine estimated the rule eliminate a tax liability of up to about $200 million for Paulson."