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Banks that are getting taxpayer bailouts awarded their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits last year, an Associated Press analysis reveals.

The rewards came even at banks where poor results last year foretold the economic crisis that sent them to Washington for a government rescue. Some trimmed their executive compensation due to lagging bank performance, but still forked over multimillion-dollar executive pay packages.

Benefits included cash bonuses, stock options, personal use of company jets and chauffeurs, home security, country club memberships and professional money management, the AP review of federal securities documents found.

The total amount given to nearly 600 executives would cover bailout costs for many of the 116 banks that have so far accepted tax dollars to boost their bottom lines.

Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services committee and a long-standing critic of executive largesse, said the bonuses tallied by the AP review amount to a bribe "to get them to do the jobs for which they are well paid in the first place.

"Most of us sign on to do jobs and we do them best we can," said Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat. "We're told that some of the most highly paid people in executive positions are different. They need extra money to be motivated!"

The AP compiled total compensation based on annual reports that the banks file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The 116 banks have so far received $188 billion in taxpayer help. Among the findings:

Has Merck's comeback turned into a wipeout?

Under chief Richard Clark, an unassuming company lifer, Merck (nyse: MRK - news - people ) staged a seemingly amazing turnabout from the dark days of 2004, when it had to stop selling the painkiller Vioxx after its own studies linked the drug to an increased risk of heart attack and plaintiffs' lawyers swarmed the company.

But though Merck's share price surged to pre-Vioxx highs early this year as Clark settled the litigation for just $5 billion and got eight drugs approved in two years, the stock now sits at a Vioxx-era $26, down 50% in 11 months. Don't just blame the financial crisis--that's the worst performance of any big pharmaceutical company this year.

An earnings guidance call Thursday and a meeting with analysts at company headquarters Dec. 9 will give Clark a chance to soothe Wall Street. The problem will be making analysts feel they haven't heard it all before.

One of Clark's first moves, in 2005, was to cut 7,000 jobs; Merck just announced it would cut 7,200 more. He's promised "fundamental changes" to the company's business model. But really getting Wall Street's attention will require unveiling a truly impressive research surprise or announcing a big acquisition.

"I want to like Merck, but they keep not succeeding," says Les Funtleyder, health care strategist at Miller Tabak. "They have some decent people and a very good research structure, but we have to go with the facts and the fact is success has been elusive."

Merck's total sales will drop 1% to $23.9 billion next year, according to analyst John Boris at Citigroup. He's bullish because the stock is so cheap, but in a recent report, he laid out the challenge Merck will face in 2009: Sales of top-seller Singulair, for allergies and asthma, will barely grow because of safety worries, and generics maker Teva Pharmaceuticals (nasdaq: TEVA - news - people ) could launch a copycat ahead of schedule. The company's vaccines division has stumbled due to manufacturing and marketing issues that executives need to fix--fast.

Has Merck's comeback turned into a wipeout?

Under chief Richard Clark, an unassuming company lifer, Merck (nyse: MRK - news - people ) staged a seemingly amazing turnabout from the dark days of 2004, when it had to stop selling the painkiller Vioxx after its own studies linked the drug to an increased risk of heart attack and plaintiffs' lawyers swarmed the company.

But though Merck's share price surged to pre-Vioxx highs early this year as Clark settled the litigation for just $5 billion and got eight drugs approved in two years, the stock now sits at a Vioxx-era $26, down 50% in 11 months. Don't just blame the financial crisis--that's the worst performance of any big pharmaceutical company this year.

An earnings guidance call Thursday and a meeting with analysts at company headquarters Dec. 9 will give Clark a chance to soothe Wall Street. The problem will be making analysts feel they haven't heard it all before.

One of Clark's first moves, in 2005, was to cut 7,000 jobs; Merck just announced it would cut 7,200 more. He's promised "fundamental changes" to the company's business model. But really getting Wall Street's attention will require unveiling a truly impressive research surprise or announcing a big acquisition.

"I want to like Merck, but they keep not succeeding," says Les Funtleyder, health care strategist at Miller Tabak. "They have some decent people and a very good research structure, but we have to go with the facts and the fact is success has been elusive."

Merck's total sales will drop 1% to $23.9 billion next year, according to analyst John Boris at Citigroup. He's bullish because the stock is so cheap, but in a recent report, he laid out the challenge Merck will face in 2009: Sales of top-seller Singulair, for allergies and asthma, will barely grow because of safety worries, and generics maker Teva Pharmaceuticals (nasdaq: TEVA - news - people ) could launch a copycat ahead of schedule. The company's vaccines division has stumbled due to manufacturing and marketing issues that executives need to fix--fast.

At 9 inches wide and weighing in at just 2 pounds,Asustek's pint-size Eee PC doesn't look like a heavyweight contender.But the ultraportable notebook, dubbed a "netbook" for itsInternet-centric applications, has delivered what may end up being aknockdown blow to the global PC industry.

Masterminded by AsustekChairman Jonney Shih and Chief Executive Jerry Shen, the classicallydesigned $300 to $400 Eee PC aimed to reach what was viewed as anunderserved demographic: young children, seniors and otherinexperienced notebook users. These were people who didn't need a fullPC but didn't want a toy. What's happened is that the Eee, once thoughtto be an extra revenue stream for the then largest motherboardmanufacturer in the world, has transformed the Taiwanese company andchanged the global PC industry along with it.

When the Eee PC was released last year, Taiwan's supply sold out in30 minutes. Demand continued to outpace supply after a worldwiderollout, and the company was surprised that many buyers already hadcomputers. It became the number one "Most Desired Gift" on Amazon.com (nasdaq: AMZN - news - people )during last year's holiday season and, eventually, a Harvard BusinessSchool case study. By the end of the year it expects to have sold 5million Eee PCs since its launch.

Rival computer companies soonnoticed that one of their main hardware suppliers was now competingagainst them as the Eee brand took off. So Asustek spun off itscontract and original-design manufacturing business to quell concerns.At the same time, these competitors launched their own netbook productlines one by one. First was Acer with its Aspire One. Then came Lenovo, Toshiba (other-otc: TOSBF.PK - news - people ) and Dell (nasdaq: DELL - news - people ) with the IdeaPad S10, NB100 and Mini 9. Eventually Hewlett-Packard (nyse: HPQ - news - people ) announced its Mini 1000 netbook line.

Inthe latest quarter, how quickly PC companies reacted to the rise of theEee PC largely dictated their market performance. Computer giant hplost its top position in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, thanks toits slow entry into the netbook segment, according to technologyresearch firm Gartner. Acer, a crosstown rival in Taipei and firstresponder to Asustek's innovation, has since surpassed Asustek tobecome the number one company in the mini-laptop category. CitiInvestment Research estimates that notebook shipments will grow 15%globally next year, with almost all of that growth coming from low-end,$300 to $500 netbooks. Desktop shipments, it estimates, will decline21%.

Meanwhile, it's still too early to tell whether netbookshave created a new global product segment or cannibalized traditionalones, says Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa. Asustek is confident thatit's pioneered a new category, however, and says its market disruptionmakes that point very clear. For its innovation and disruption, theAsustek Eee PC is FORBES ASIA's Product of the Year.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. CEO Lloyd Blankfein and six other top executives at the bank will not be receiving cash or stock bonuses for 2008, a spokesman said Sunday.The decision was made by the seven executives themselves, said spokesman Lucas Van Praag, and approved Sunday by the Wall Street firm's compensation committee. The executives made the decision "because they think it's the right thing to do," Van Praag said

The seven executives include Blankfein; Presidents and Co-Chief Operating Officers Jon Winkelried and Gary Cohn; Vice Chairmen John Weinberg, J. Michael Evans and Michael Sherwood; and Chief Financial Officer David Viniar.

They will receive no cash bonuses, no stock, and no options for 2008 -- just their salaries, the spokesman said. Companies typically release compensation figures for top executives in the spring as part of their annual proxy statements.

Last year, Blankfein received total compensation of $54.0 million, according to calculations by The Associated Press -- making him the 6th highest paid CEO at a Standard & Poor's 500 company in 2007. His salary that year was $600,000.

Goldman Sachs, like other financial institutions, has been struggling this year with the soaring mortgage defaults and the seize-up of the credit markets.

Goldman and Morgan Stanley were the only major U.S. investment banks left standing after the buyout of Bear Stearns Cos. by JPMorgan Chase & Co., the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co.'s sale to Bank of America Corp.

Shortly after Lehman's collapse, Goldman and Morgan Stanley became bank holding companies -- a move that subjects them to more oversight from the Federal Reserve, but that also gives them permanent and wider access to the central bank's lending programs.

Goldman's shares closed Friday at $66.73, down $3.26, and are down 69 percent since the start of the year. The firm is in the midst of cutting about 3,200 employees, or about 10 percent, of its staff worldwide.