Goldman pays Paulson $18.7 million for 6 months

NEW YORK — Goldman Sachs Group Inc. paid newly appointed Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson a cash bonus of $18.7 million for his work as chairman and chief executive of the firm for the first half of its fiscal year, Goldman said in a regulatory filing Monday.

Paulson resigned from Goldman and assumed the Treasury post last Wednesday.

The company’s board, as previously reported, also accelerated delivery of all his accumulated but deferred stock and options, including at least $26 million worth of securities that had not yet vested.

Goldman also agreed to purchase investments that Paulson and his wife had in private funds managed by the firm at their net asset values, though the document didn’t disclose their worth.

Goldman’s board also authorized unnamed Goldman executives to determine how to unwind some 3.2 million shares of Goldman’s common stock, with a current market value of about $488 million, that Paulson registered for sale last Wednesday. Goldman may purchase the shares directly or help sell all or part of them to third parties.

Paulson, 60, had previously said he would divest himself of all of his shares of the company he has led since 1999 to avoid conflicts in his new government role. They have an estimated value of about $500 million.

In 2005, Paulson collected $38.8 million in compensation, $36 million of which was in restricted stock. His salary as Treasury Secretary is currently set at $183,500.

While the quarterly report was mum on the value of Paulson’s investment fund gains, it disclosed that his 51-year-old successor, Lloyd Blankfein, collected at least $3.7 million in profit distributions from the firm’s private investment funds in the last seven months.