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It is called bank-jacking, like hi-jacking and car-jacking. And it is an inside job by the keptos. **** Goldman Sachs earns $4.79B in Q4; '09 compensation is $16.2B NEW YORK (AP) — Goldman Sachs Group said Thursday it earned $4.79 billion in the fourth quarter as the bank's trading business again outdistanced the rest of the financial industry. The company rewarded its employees with $16.2 billion in salaries and bonuses for 2009, up 47% from the previous year but still lower than many had expected. Goldman (GS) said it earned $8.20 a share in the last three months of the year as fixed income, commodities and currency trading buoyed its profits for the third straight quarter. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters predicted Goldman would earn $5.20 a share. Goldman, which has outperformed other financial companies for years, has been the strongest bank throughout the financial crisis. It had less exposure to toxic mortgage-backed securities than other companies and also has been more aggressive in its trading. For the full year, Goldman earned $13.4 billion. Despite that big profit, Goldman's compensation costs came in well below the record $20.2 billion the bank paid to employees in 2007. Goldman said it reduced its compensation pool by $500 million in the fourth quarter and put the money in the bank's newly created charity, a move apparently aimed at blunting criticism of Goldman's outsized pay packages. Bonuses in the overall banking industry have come under attack by lawmakers and the public after the companies lost billions of dollars in bad debts on mortgages, contributed heavily to the credit crisis and recession and then had to be bailed out by the government. Goldman Sachs received $10 billion in bailout funds, and was one of the first to repay the money last year. Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.