You know an industry's in trouble when its PR pros get so much ink.
First there was Goldman's Lucas van Praag, who became the subject of articles for his unique brand of saber-tongued commentary, which has by turns frustrated and delighted finance journalists.
Now there's Edward Skyler, most recently Mayor Bloomberg's deputy mayor for operations. He will be banking more than $1 million a year to become Citigroup's new executive vice president, global public affairs, overseeing internal and external communications, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The 36-year-old certainly has his work cut out for him, repping too-big-to-fail Citigroup and its embattled chief Vikram Pandit.
The paycheck isn't unusual for Wall Street PR pros, according to Dennis Spring, president of Spring Associates Inc., a New York City-based public-relations recruiting and consulting firm.
Even so, the role has taken a hit in the past year, along with the rest of the industry.
The average salary of corporate communications executives in the financial services industry fell by up to 12% in the past year, about in line with PR professionals across industries, according to a report from Spring Associates. "They were not immune," Spring said.
The good news -- this is about PR after all -- is that demand is rebounding, Spring reported.
"Clearly demand is up," he said. "I honestly think it's only going to get stronger."
Goldman, at least, recently identified bad press as a major risk to the fortunes of the firm.
Considering the deluge of bad news Wall Street PR pros have had to traffic in recent years, they might just merit some combat pay.