Goldman Sachs

Founded in 1869, the New York-based Goldman Sachs is one of the largest investment banks in the world, with core businesses of investment banking, trading, and asset management and securities services.

Fast Facts

1. Stock symbol: GS
2. Annual revenue (2007): $87.9 Billion
3. Founder(s): Marcus Goldman
4. Year Established: 1869
5. Industry: Investment Banking
6. Phone: (212) 902-1000
7. Fax: (212) 902-3000
8. HQ: New York, New York
9. CEO: Lloyd C, Blankfein
10. CFO: Gary D. Cohn
11. Staff: 30,522
12. Other key people: Jon Winkelried
13. Name changed early in history to include Goldman's son-in-law, Samuel Sachs
14. Average salary per employee: $600,000
15. Integral to the launch of many IPO's
16. Hermetic firm culture earned the nickname, "Wall Street's Secret Society"
17. Employee yearly bonuses can be as much as $100 million
18. Alumni include New Jersey governor Jon Corzine, White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten, and actor Sacha Baron Cohen

Key Dates

1. 1869: Goldman Sachs was founded
2. 1999: Goldman Sachs went public

Sub-prime Crisis

Goldman Sachs also manages sub-prime and other innovative mortgage products, which have gained increasing importance to the company in the 21st Century, such that circa early 2008, its exposure to the mortgage crisis has led to speculations of dire financial risk. On March 17, 2008, amid the collapse of Bear Stearns and its Federally-subsidized purchase by JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs reported a quarterly profit of $1.5B -- above analysts' expectations, but half that of the same quarter in 2007. The firm reported that the drop was due to $2B of losses in residential mortgages, credit products, and investments. On September 17, 2008, in the wake of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and the bailout of AIG, Goldman Sachs stock fell 35 points before stabilizing toward the end of the day.¹

Related Pages on Mahalo

American International Group (AIG) | AIG Bankruptcy | Morgan Stanley | Citigroup | JP Morgan Chase | Bank of America | Merrill Lynch | American International Group (AIG) | AIG Bankruptcy

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