Wall Street bonuses now third highest on record after 15% jump in 2013

The average bonus paid to securities industry employees in New York City grew 15% last year to more than $164,000

The $26.7bn in bonuses Wall Street banks handed out in 2013 would be enough to more than double the pay for all 1,085,000 full-time US minimum wage workers.

The average bonus paid to securities industry employees in New York City grew 15% last year to more than $164,000, the largest average Wall Street bonus since the 2008 financial crisis and the third highest on record, New York’s state comptroller reported Wednesday.

The securities industry has been profitable for five consecutive years, Comptroller Thomas DiNapo ... Read more »

NBC's Peacock Productions in quiet fight with rising writer's union

Top stars stay silent as Writer’s Guild of America-East accuses NBC’s Peacock managers of union-bashing

NBC Universal has two seemingly unrelated problems on its hands. First, there’s MSNBC’s falling fortunes: the cable network has launched a new schedule with Ronan Farrow at the helm, an attempt to get past a series of mis-steps that resulted in the departures of long-term anchor Martin Bashir and short-lived host Alec Baldwin.

Then there’s a more intricate and increasingly public issue: an attempt by the writer’s union to gain recognition at Peacock Productions, the non-fiction production arm of NBC News.

The Writer’s Guild ... Read more »