Results tagged “goldmansachs”

Senior bankers at Goldman Sachs are arming themselves with handguns to fend off any forthcoming populist uprising against the bank. A friend of one of the bankers tells a Bloomberg News columnist, "I just wrote my first reference for a gun permit," swearing to the good character of a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker. This unidentified banker says he's not the only one stocking up on guns, and the NYPD confirms that some of the Goldman Sachs bankers do have pistol permits. Well, this ought to fix their public image problem!

On Saturday, there were reports of windows falling from a Tribeca building, likely due to the strong winds, and now it turns out the building in question was the new Goldman Sachs headquarters at Murray and West Streets. And it's not the first time things have been falling from the nearly finished 43-story building.

Apparently news that Goldman Sachs employees would help out at the Salvation Army's Thanksgiving meals isn't good enough for the NY Times editorial board! The Times published an opinion piece slamming Goldman Sachs for its "non-apology." Noting that CEO Lloyd Blankfein said, "Certainly, our industry is responsible for things. We’re a leader in our industry, and we participated in things that were clearly wrong and we have reasons to regret and apologize for," the Times thinks the investment firm should try a lot harder:

It is widely and correctly understood that Wall Street, with Goldman as a leader and with regulators in thrall, helped to inflate and profited from a credit bubble that burst and cost tens of millions of Americans their jobs, incomes, savings and home equity. American taxpayers continue to stand behind the bailouts and other government interventions that have stabilized the financial system, including Goldman, enabling the firm to post blowout profits in 2009 and to set aside $16.7 billion for bonuses so far this year...

Continue reading "NY Times Not Happy With Goldman Sachs"

After admitting it did some things that were "wrong" and donating a pittance to help small business, Goldman Sachs continues to attempt some public penance by announcing a several hundred employees will serve Thanksgiving dinners to the needy next week. The Post reports that at the Salvation Army dinners, "The so-called masters of the universe will wait on downtrodden diners as if they were in a Michelin-star restaurant, bus their tables, then take out the trash afterwards."

From the NY Times: "A little more than a week after Goldman’s chairman and chief executive drew fire for saying the Wall Street giant was 'doing God’s work,' the bank said Tuesday that it would spend $500 million — or about 3 percent of the $16.7 billion it has so far set aside to pay its employees this year — to help thousands of small businesses recover from the recession." Also, CEO Lloyd Blankfein, on the cusp of handing out billions in bonuses, said, "We participated in things that were clearly wrong and have reason to regret. We apologize."

Investment bank Goldman Sachs is being its own Scrooge this year: Apparently the bank, which is rolling in the dough AND saving kitties AND doing God's work, is not having a Christmas party this year, because of populist outrage. Also: "The investment bank is also prohibiting employees from funding their own parties, an insider at the firm told InvestmentNews." We suppose they'll just have "gatherings" to count their bonus money.

When word got out that some kittens born at Goldman Sachs' Battery Park City headquarters were essentially abandoned by the firm—the bank allegedly reneged on earlier promises to have its employees adopt the kitties and pay for vet bills—the bank scrambled to set the story straight. A spokesperson said, "To be clear, we never abandoned the kittens. Every kitten has been adopted. The vet bills were requested several times and they were paid as soon as we received them," and said downtown newspaper The Downtown Express "reported the story inaccurately." So, Goldman Sachs—really rich but not kitten lovers-and-leavers.

Main St. v. Wall St.! Some New Yorkers are up in arms upon finding out that Citigroup and Goldman Sachs have received numerous doses of the much-coveted H1N1 vaccine. The two banks each received a several hundred doses for at-risk employees (pregnant women, etc...), but the city's Health Department has had to explain themselves to citizens who believe companies shouldn't get preferential treatment over people waiting in line for the vaccine. "Wall Street banks have already taken so much from us," union official John VanDeventer wrote on the Service Employees International Union website, "But they should not be allowed to take away our health and well-being."

Barclays CEO John Varley made his case for high executive pay, saying at London's St Martins-in-the-Field church that "profit is not satanic...Talent is highly mobile. If we fail to pay or are constrained from paying competitive rates then that talent will move to another employer," and later said in an interview, "Is Christianity and banking compatible? Yes. And is Christianity and fair reward compatible? Yes." Other bank executives have also been at other London churches to make their pitches—Goldman's Brian Griffiths said, "The injunction of Jesus to love others as ourselves is an endorsement of self-interest. We have to tolerate the inequality as a way to achieving greater prosperity and opportunity for all." We can't wait until American execs try that here! [Via Daily Intel]

In case you need more cause besides Balloon Boy to vomit, then revel in details of Goldman Sachs' success. The NY Times reports, "Only months after paying back billions of taxpayer dollars, Goldman Sachs is on pace to pay annual bonuses that will rival the record payouts that it made in 2007, at the height of the bubble. In the last nine months, the bank set aside about $16.7 billion for compensation — on track to pay each of its 31,700 employees close to $700,000 this year. Top producers are expecting multimillion-dollar paydays." The Times adds, "This much is indisputable: Goldman Sachs is minting money."

A survey done by eFinancialCareers.com of 1,074 Wall Street workers said that 83% of people expected some sort of bonus, 36% expected a bigger bonus, and 11% expected that bonus to have increased by half from last year. This of course comes after a year of credit collapse and soaring unemployment, which many say was fanned by ridiculous pay packages.

Born-again seat belt enthusiast NJ Governor Jon Corzine used his fortune and credentials from his days at Goldman Sachs during his Senate and gubernatorial races. But now the NY Times reports, "New Jersey’s economy is reeling, Goldman Sachs’s luster has dulled and Mr. Corzine’s greatest asset has become a political liability as he struggles to keep his job in November’s election." Challenger Chris Christie, even compared Corzine to Wall Street's Gordon Gekko in an Internet ad! Corzine's campaign is trying to focus on how Goldman is all in the past and his work on things like school funding and universal health care for children.

Goldman Sachs, a recipient of billions of dollars in government bailout money, has built up $16 billion in its bonus pool so far this year, according to the Post. This is on track to be the largest year for bonuses ever. In unrelated news, the national unemployment rate is still above 10%.

The NY Times has an interesting article wondering about Henry Paulson's many calls to his former company, Goldman Sachs, while he was Treasury Secretary and overseeing bailouts. Sure, Paulson had sold his shares and obtained ethics waivers, but the Times reports, "During the week of the A.I.G. bailout alone, Mr. Paulson and Mr. Blankfein spoke two dozen times, the calendars show, far more frequently than Mr. Paulson did with other Wall Street executives. On Sept. 17, the day Mr. Paulson secured his waivers, he and Mr. Blankfein spoke five times. Two of the calls occurred before Mr. Paulson’s [ethics] waivers were granted." Lawyer and former executive director of the NY State Commission on Government integrity Peter Bienstock said, "If it can happen on a phone call and can happen without public scrutiny, it destroys the standard because then anything can happen in that fashion and any waiver can happen." Paulson's apparently busy writing a memoir, so he didn't comment.

Remember when the financial crisis waterboarded the American economy to within an inch of its life, and then taxpayers threw all their money at Wall Street to stop the drowning? That's all behind us now, and those of you reading this in the basement of your parents' tent under the bridge can take comfort in knowing that everything's coming up Goldman. Though CEO Lloyd Blankfein recently urged employees not too buy anything flashy in the wake of record profits, everything else at Goldman is back to normal and no lessons have been learned, just like the end of a Seinfeld episode."Our risk appetite continues to grow year on year, quarter on quarter, as our balance sheet and liquidity continue to grow," crows Goldman president Gary Cohn to the Times. What could go wrong?

Goldman Sachs has caught the public's eye in recent weeks thanks to record profits and damning exposes about the bank's historic role in the economy's boom and bust cycle. Oh, and the pedophilia. Like many rich and powerful institutions, Goldman doesn't appreciate the attention, coming as it does as tent cities and soaring unemployment are turning the nation into a Dickens novel by way of Mad Max. An employee tells the Post that CEO Lloyd Blankfein has been urging his employees to avoid any high-profile purchases: "This is a sensitive time for us, and [Blankfein] wants to make sure that we're not being seen living high on the hog." While it's probably wise to postpone buying that diamond-encrusted office bidet for now, isn't this kind of bad news for the city economy? What happened to trickle-down economics? How much longer does the service industry—the chauffeurs, the naked sushi models, the bidet installers—have to wait for conspicuous consumption to come back in style?

A corporate lawyer for Goldman Sachs thought he was making online overtures to a 15-year-old but it turned out it was just a sting, culminating in the 33-year-old being charged with "trying to disseminate indecent material to a minor" yesterday in a Westchester County court. According to the Daily News, Upper West Side resident—and married father of three— Todd Genger was apparently "caught in a sting operation aimed at perverts who solicit young girls for sex." Genger had allegedly been chatting with a 15-year-old girl—who turned out to be an investigator in the Westchester DA's office—since April and went to Westchester this week, in an attempt to do the deed. The News also reports that the DA's office said that Genger "admitted to participating in the online conversations about the intended tryst, which included 'specific explicit sexual acts.'" Genger was released without bail and faces up between 15 months and four years if convicted.

New York magazine's cover story this week is titled "Is Goldman Sachs Evil? Or Just Too Good?", giving the once-over to the investment bank that just reported $3.44 billion in second quarter profits less than half a year after receiving $10 billion in TARP money from the government. The feature by Joe Hagan examines the bailout, the culture, and the firm's relationship with D.C. Then there are quotes like this one from former "Sheriff of Wall Street" and Love Gov Eliot Spitzer—"If all we are getting are newly empowered and capital-rich hedge funds that benefit from market volatility, then we are not only rebuilding the same edifice, but we’re contributing to the underlying rot in our economy"—as well as one from GS's communications director, "The cult of the individual, which I think has been a disadvantage to so many of the firm’s competitors, really doesn’t exist here. The more you have acceptance, the easier it is to be effective." And another Wall Street veteran puts it this way: "The god is Goldman. You subjugate yourself to that god, and in return we will make you a gazillionaire."

JPMorgan announced that its second quarter earnings grew to $2.7 billion, from $2 billion last quarter, thanks to investment banking and stock-and-bond underwriting. The NY Times reports, "The strong showing may put to rest some worries that the bank was allowed to pay back its $25 billion taxpayer investment too early, after it passed the Treasury Department’s stress test in May. But its quick resurgence in earnings, along with Goldman Sachs’s announcement of a $3.4 billion quarterly profit on Monday, is bound to raise fresh concerns about soaring pay levels and growing clout in Washington." That and now JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon "has recently been driving a hard bargain over the repurchase of warrants the government received last fall." Reuters also notes that the bank "said credit quality in consumer mortgages and credit cards is deteriorating faster than it expected" and Dimon expects to compete for banking talent (hello, big salaries).

Goldman Sachs, which repaid a $10 billion TARP loan to the U.S. government, announced second quarter profits of $3.44 billion, which beat analysts' expectations. The NY Times says, "The results continue a robust turnaround for the firm since it rode out the final tumultuous months of last year with the aid of a federal rescue... [The bank] said in the first six months of 2009 it had set aside $11.4 billion for compensation and benefits. Analysts said this was up 33 percent from a year earlier and was enough to pay each employee $386,429 for the first half of this year." Bloomberg News notes that the firm is "reverting to a business model analysts deemed irretrievably broken after a crisis of confidence in Wall Street raised borrowing costs and led to the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. While rivals have pared risks, Goldman Sachs has increased them."

After The Guardian reported, "Staff at Goldman Sachs staff can look forward to the biggest bonus payouts in the firm's 140-year history after a spectacular first half of the year, sparking concern that the big investment banks which survived the credit crunch will derail financial regulation reforms," it was taken as a sign that excess is back. But now the investment firm is denying the report, having its spokesman tell the media, "We won't know what our compensation benefit number is until the end of the fourth quarter, which is at the end of December." The firm did return $10 billion in TARP money to the government, adding in a letter, "Our return of the government's investment does not, in any way, end our obligations to the public interest." We guess we'll have to wait until next January for stories about $1000 bottles of wine and dropping cash on new condos and cars.

In what continues to be a familiar story of cat and mouse in politicians pointing the finger as to where funds aren't coming from, Governor Paterson yesterday claimed the state lost hundreds of millions in tax revenue because less big Wall Street bonuses are being given out this year. Many CEOs and senior executives agreed to take significantly smaller (or no) bonuses after pressure from Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, in the end nearly halving last year's total of $50 billion in bonuses. Paterson originally claimed that Goldman Sachs' lack of bonuses alone would cost the state $178 million, but an aide later clarified that was just an estimate of how much taxable income was lost. Still the governor sounded grave saying, "This is a very, very difficult year for Americans. But I don't think it has been fully realized ... it could theoretically become another depression, it is that difficult."

With Citgroup in serious trouble of being taken over as stock prices continue to plummet, will Citi Field, the Mets' new stadium set to open next year, still have its name by Opening Day? Citigroup's deal with the Mets calls for the financial company to pay the team $20 million annually for the name. The Hoston Astros were still playing in Enron Field when the company went bankrupt and was mired in an enormous scandal. But with other financial giants lining up as potential Citigroup suitors, could Queens become home to Goldman Sachs Stadium? It seemed that New Yorkers' ability to pretend it was called "City Field" softened the blow of the town's first major corporate handle for a hometown team's digs. Maybe now we'll just have to pride in not being San Diego, a city saddled with the Jenny Craig Pavilion.

During testimony to the Senate Banking Committee, executives from Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase promised not to use bailout funds "to pay their executives and employees," according to the AP. These four institutions account for $75 billion of the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program. AIG received $40 billion from TARP on Monday--just after it was revealed the company went forward with a $343,000 conference in Phoenix. AIG claims there was important training and that its sponsors paid for 90% of the event--still, there's nothing like seeing men in suits enjoying hotel patios.

Gotta love it: Yes, the MTA managed to salvage its West Side Rail Yards development plans by agreeing to a deal with developer Related and Goldman Sachs, after it tossed a deal with Tishman Speyer. But even though the agency and Related were planing on to sign a contract for the $15 billion project this week, that's been put on the back burner because the MTA has been, according to the Observer, "slower than expected in producing the needed paperwork." MTA CFO Gary Dellaverson added, "This is my fault—the fault of the M.T.A. This is not a product of either Related or Goldman or their lawyers." Dellaverson added he believed the deal would go through, bad economy and all, "Everything that I've seen, is they're continuing to operate in good faith and pursuant to a desire to consummate the transaction."

Governor David Paterson went to Washington D.C. yesterday and stated the case for the Empire State, "New York doesn't need a handout, we need a handback."

"Worse-than-expected weekly jobless numbers" plus overall worries about a recession are driving stock future down today. CNBC reports that jobless benefits claims rose by a "larger than expected 15,000 last week." Additionally, there's also the news that Goldman Sachs will lay off 10% of its 32,500 employees, joining a number of other firms that will be firing employees after companies consolidate (Bank of America's purchase of Merrill Lynch, Barclays' takeover of Lehman Brothers). Also interesting from CNBC: "Most economists say the current downturn will be far harsher than the blip of the 1990-1991 or even 2000-2001 recessions."

Goldman Sachs applied for a NY State Bank Charter yesterday, in a move to becoming a full-service bank. The NY Times points out, "The announcement does not mean a move for Goldman Sachs, which has been based in New York City since its founding in 1869. But it does provide glimpses of Goldman’s roadmap as it transforms itself into a commercial bank."

Yesterday was a mixed day for the financial sector. Congress still had questions about the government's proposed $700 billion bailout plan for financial firms, sending the market down. But the after-market close announcement that Warren Buffett would invest $5 billion in Goldman Sachs has sent stock futures higher. But now there's word that the FBI is searching for possible fraud at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers and AIG.

Well, if it's good enough for Warren Buffett... The Oracle from Omaha's company announced it will invest $5 billion into Goldman Sachs, the investment bank-turned-bank holding company. The Wall Street Journal reports, "In addition to the $5 billion from Berkshire Hathaway, which comes in the form of perpetual preferred shares, Goldman will raise at least $2.5 billion in common equity in a public offering." Goldman chairman Lloyd Blankfein said, "We are pleased that... Warren Buffett, arguably the world's most admired and successful investor, has decided to make such a significant investment in Goldman Sachs," while Buffett called the firm "exceptional," "It has an unrivaled global franchise, a proven and deep management team and the intellectual and financial capital to continue its track record of outperformance.” Will this be the boost of confidence investors need?