Fortune magazine reports that, according to its calculations, Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld has bagged an amazing $489.7m from cashing in stock options and restricted stock since his firm went public in 1994. And that doesn't even include the salary and cash bonuses Fuld received during that time!

The magazine says that Fuld's best year was 2001, when he is said to have realized $100m and that last year, the year the credit crisis started, he still managed to cash in $53m worth of vested stock.

Fuld's compensation is now under the spotlight as he is said to have told his senior staff that, due to the firm's financial performance, he will not take a bonus this year. Wags suggest that this is a bit like Eliot Spitzer coming out now and saying that he won't run for President. There's no way Fuld could have gotten away with taking a bonus this year anyway, given the state of Lehman's earnings and its depressed share price. Anthony Hilton, the Evening Standard's Financial Editor, made a good point Monday. He said that Fuld would have been better off making a more meaningful gesture to employees and shareholders by actually giving back the $39m in cash and restricted shares he was awarded last year before the full implications of the credit crunch on his firm were realized . On the basis of Fortune's calculations, Fuld can clearly afford it.

In the meantime, Lehman's shares fell to their lowest level since 2000 Monday closing at $19.81 (although they recovered some ground in extended-hours trading) on rumours that the firm is likely to be bought out on the cheap by possibly Barclays Bank. The firm's shares are now down around 70% this year, having fallen 47% in the second-quarter.

The only good news for Lehman Monday (and the main reason for the extended-hours share-price hike) is that Morgan Stanley has come out and set a price target for the firm's shares at $31. Reuters reports that Morgan Stanley analysts wrote: 'We think near-term risk of incremental write-downs is balanced by (a) solid liquidity and capital footing. The firm's ability to weather near-term market headwinds and return to respectable return on equity generation should help the shares trade closer to book value'.

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