Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Goldman Sachs shopping experience:

1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Goldman Sachs offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Goldman Sachs at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Goldman Sachs? Wrong! If the Goldman Sachs is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.

4. Questions - Got a question about Goldman Sachs then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Goldman Sachs? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Goldman Sachs and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.

6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Goldman Sachs wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your Goldman Sachs then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Goldman Sachs site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about Goldman Sachs, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your Goldman Sachs, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

{{Infobox_Company | company_name = The Goldman Sachs Group | company_logo = ] | company_type = [Public company ({{NYSE|GS-->) | slogan = Our clients' interests always come first.| foundation = | location = ] [New York City, [New York| key_people = [Lloyd Blankfein, [Chair (official) & [CEO
[Gary Cohn, President & [Chief operating officer
[Jon Winkelried, President and COO
Suzanne M. Nora Johnson, Vice Chairman
David A. Viniar, [CFO
Edward C. Forst, CAO Gregory K. Palm, General Counsel
Esta E. Stecher, General Counsel
Kevin W. Kennedy, Head of Human Capital Management
Alan M. Cohen, Global Head of Compliance| num_employees = 30,335 ()| industry = [Finance and Insurance| products = [Investment bank| revenue = {{profit-->United States Dollar37.67 Billion ([)| net_income = {{profit-->United States Dollar9.54 Billion ([)| homepage = http://www.gs.com/ www.gs.com -->The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., or simply Goldman Sachs () is one of the world's largest global investment banks. Goldman Sachs was founded in 1869, and is headquartered in the Lower Manhattan area of New York City at 85 Broad Street (Manhattan). Goldman Sachs has offices in leading financial centers such as New York City, London, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Frankfurt, Zürich, Paris, São Paulo, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Beijing, Mexico City, Singapore, Salt Lake City, Sydney, Dubai, Milan, Melbourne, Tokyo, Taipei, Moscow, Toronto, and Monaco.

Goldman Sachs acts as a financial advisor to some of the most important companies, largest governments, and wealthiest families in the world. It is a Primary dealers in the U.S. Treasury Capital market. Goldman Sachs offers its clients mergers & acquisitions advisory, provides underwriting services, engages in proprietary trading, invests in private equity deals, and also manages the wealth of affluent individuals and families.

History Goldman Sachs was founded in 1869 by Germany Jew immigrant Marcus Goldman. The company made a name for itself pioneering the use of commercial paper for entrepreneurs and was invited to join the New York Stock Exchange in 1896. It was during this time that Goldman's son-in-law Samuel Sachs joined the firm which prompted the name change to Goldman Sachs.

In the early 20th Century, Goldman was a major player in establishing the Initial Public Offering market. It managed one of the largest IPO's to date, that of Sears, Roebuck and Company in 1906. It also became one of the first companies to heavily recruit those with MBA degrees from leading Business Schools, a practice that still continues today.

In 1929, it launched the Goldman Sachs Trading Corp., a closed-end mutual fund with characteristics similar to that of a Ponzi Scheme. The fund failed as a result of the Stock Market Crash of 1929, hurting the firm's reputation for several years afterward.

In 1930, Sidney Weinberg assumed the role of Senior Partner and shifted Goldman's focus away from Trading and towards Investment Banking. It was Weinberg's actions that helped to restore some of Goldman's tarnished reputation. On the back of Weinberg, Goldman was lead advisor on the Ford Motor Company IPO in 1956, which at the time was a major Coup d'état on Wall Street. Under Weinberg's reign the Firm also started an Investment Research division and a Municipal Bond department. It also was at this time that the firm became an early innovator in Risk Arbitrage.

Gus Levy joined the firm in the 1950s as a well known securities trader, which started a trend at Goldman where there would be two powers generally vie for supremacy, one from investment banking and one from securities trading. For most of the 1950s and 1960's, this would be Weinberg and Levy. Levy was a pioneer in block trade and the firm established this trend under his guidance. Due to Weinberg's heavy influence at the firm, it formed an Investment Banking Division in 1956 in an attempt to spread around influence and not focus it all on Weinberg.

In 1969, Levy took over as Senior Partner from Weinberg, and built Goldman's trading franchise once again. It is Levy who is credited with Goldman's famous philosophy of being "long term greedy," which implies that as long as money is made over the long term, trading losses in the short term are not to be worried about. That same year, Weinberg retired from the firm.

Another financial crisis for the firm occurred in 1970, when the Penn Central Railroad Company went bankrupt with over $80 million in commercial paper outstanding, most of it issued by Goldman Sachs. The bankruptcy was large, and the resulting lawsuits threatened the partnership capital and life of the firm. It was this bankruptcy that resulted in credit ratings being created for every issuer of commercial paper today by several credit rating services.

During the 1970s, the firm also expanded in several ways. Under the direction of Senior Partner Stanley R. Miller, it opened its first international office in London in 1970, and created a Private Wealth Management division along with a Fixed Income division in 1972. It also pioneered the "White knight (business)" strategy in 1974 during its attempts to defend Electric Storage Battery against a hostile takeover bid from International Nickel and Goldman's rival Morgan Stanley. This action would boost the firm's reputation as an investment advisor because it pledged to no longer participate in hostile takeovers.

John Weinberg (the son of Sidney Weinberg), and John C. Whitehead assumed roles of Co-Senior Partners in 1976, once again emphasizing the co-leadership at the firm. One of their most famous initiatives was the establishment of the 14 Business Principles that are still used to this day.

In the 1980s, the firm made a major move by acquiring J. Aron & Company, a commodities trading firm which merged with the Fixed Income division to become known as Fixed Income, Currencies, and Commodities. J. Aron was a major player in the coffee and gold markets, and the current CEO of Goldman, Lloyd Blankfein, joined the firm as a result of this merger. In 1985 it underwrote the public offering of the Real Estate Investment Trust that owned Rockefeller Center, then the largest REIT offering in history. In accordance with the beginning of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the firm also became largely involved in facilitating the global privatization movement by advising companies that were spinning off from their parent governments.

In 1986, the firm formed Goldman Sachs Asset Management, which manages the majority of its mutual funds and hedge funds today. In the same year, the firm also underwrote the IPO of Microsoft, advised GE on its acquisition of RCA and joined the London Stock Exchange and Tokyo stock exchanges. 1986 also was the year when Goldman became the first United States bank to rank in the top 10 of Mergers and Acquisitions in the United Kingdom. During the 1980s the firm became the first bank to distribute its investment research electronically and created the first public offering of original issue deep-discount Bond (finance).

Robert Rubin and Stephen Friedman (PFIAB) assumed the Co-Senior Partnership in 1990 and pledged to focus on globalization of the firm and strengthening the Merger & Acquisition and Trading business lines. During their reign, the firm introduced paperless trading to the New York Stock exchange and lead-managed the first-ever global debt offering by a U.S. corporation. It also launched the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index (GSCI) and opened a Beijing office in 1994. It was this same year that Jon Corzine assumed leadership of the firm following the departure of Rubin and Friedman. The firm joined David Rockefeller and partners in a 50-50 join ownership of Rockefeller Center during 1994, but later sold the shares to Tishman Speyer in 2000. In 1996, Goldman was lead underwriter of the Yahoo! IPO and in 1998 it was global coordinator of the NTT DoCoMo IPO. In 1999, Henry Paulson took over as Senior Partner.

One of the largest events in the firm's history was its own IPO in 1999. The decision to go public was a tough one that the partners debated for decades. In the end, Goldman decided to offer only a small portion of the company to the public, with some 48% still held by the partnership pool. 22% of the company is held by non-partner employees, and 18% is held by retired Goldman partners and two longtime investors, Sumitomo Bank Ltd. and Hawaii's Kamehameha Activities Assn (the investing arm of Kamehameha Schools). This leaves approximately 12% of the company as being held by the public. Henry Paulson became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the firm. Hull Trading Company, one of the world’s premier market-making firms, was acquired by Goldman in 1999 for $531 million.

More recently, the firm has been busy both in Investment Banking and in Trading activities. It purchased Spear, Leeds, & Kellogg, one of the largest specialists on the New York Stock Exchange, for $6.3 billion in September 2000. It also advised on a landmark debt offering for the Government of China and the first electronic offering for the World Bank. It merged with JBWere, the Australian investment bank and opened a full-service broker-dealer in Brazil. It expanded its investments in companies to include Burger King, McJunkin Corporation, and in January 2007, Alliance Atlantis alongside CanWest Global Communications to own sole broadcast rights to the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation franchise. In May 2006, Henry Paulson left the firm to serve as United States Secretary of the Treasury, and Lloyd Blankfein was promoted to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

On July 6th, 2007, several US newspapers received anonymous threat-letters targeting Goldman Sachs and its employees.

Corporate affairs As of 2006, Goldman Sachs employed 26,467 people worldwide. It reported earnings of US$9.54 billion and record earnings per share of $19.69. It was reported that the average total compensation per employee in 2006 was US$622,000. However, this number represents the arithmetic mean of total compensation and is highly skewed upwards as several hundred of the top earners command the majority of the Bonus Pools, leaving the actual median that most employees earn well below this number. The current Chief Executive Officer is Lloyd C. Blankfein. The company ranks #1 in Annual Net Income when compared with 86 peers in the Investment Services sector.

Recently Goldman Sachs has been increasingly involved in both advising and brokering deals to privatize major highways by selling them off to foreign investors. In addition to advising Indiana on the Toll Road deal, Goldman Sachs has worked with Texas governor Rick Perry's administration on privatization projects, and according to John Schmidt, the former adviser to the Chicago Mayor of Chicago, it was a Goldman Sachs representative who first pitched the city on the idea of leasing out the Skyway. Goldman Sachs has played a major role in advising states on how to structure privatization deals—even while positioning itself to invest in the toll road market.

Businesses Goldman Sachs is divided into three core businesses.

Investment banking Investment Banking is divided into two divisions and includes Financial Advisory (mergers and acquisitions, investitures, corporate defense activities, restructurings and spin-offs) and Underwriting (public offerings and private placements of Stock, equity-related and debt instruments). Goldman Sachs is one of the leading investment banks, appearing in Thomson Financial league tables. In mergers and acquisitions, it gained fame historically by advising clients on how to avoid hostile takeovers. Goldman Sachs, for a long time during the 1980s, was the only major investment bank with a strict policy against helping to initiate a hostile takeover, which increased Goldman's reputation immensely. This segment accounts for around 15 percent of Goldman Sachs' revenues.

Trading Trading and Principal Investments is the largest of the three core segments, and is the company's profit center. The segment is divided into three divisions and includes Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities (trading in interest rate and Credit (finance) products, Mortgage-backed security and loans, currencies and commodities, structured and derivative products), Equities (trading in equities, equity-related products, equity derivatives, structured products and executing client trades in equities, option (finance), and Futures contracts on world markets), and Principal Investments (merchant banking investments and funds). This segment consists of the revenues and profit gained from the Bank's trading activities, both on behalf of its clients (known as flow trading) and for its own account (known as proprietary trading).

Most trading done by Goldman is not Speculation, but rather an attempt to profit from bid-ask spreads in the process of acting as a market maker. Around 65 percent of Goldman's revenues and profits are derived from this area. Upon its IPO, Goldman predicted that this segment would not grow as fast as its Investment Banking division and would be responsible for a shrinking proportion of earnings. The opposite has been true, however, and resulted in Lloyd Blankfein's appointment to President and Chief Operating Officer after John Thain's departure to run the NYSE and John L. Thornton's departure for an academic position in China.

Asset management and securities services Asset Management and Securities Services is a rapidly growing business for Goldman as it gains market share. It is separated into two divisions, and includes Asset Management, which provides large institutions and very wealthy individuals with investment advisory, financial planning services, and the management of mutual funds, as well as the so-called alternative investments (hedge funds, Fund of funds, real estate funds, and private equity funds). The Securities Services division provides prime brokerage, financing services, and securities lending to mutual funds, hedge funds, pension funds, foundations, and High net worth individuals. This segment accounts for around 19 percent of Goldman's earnings. As of 2006, the Goldman Sachs Asset Management hedge fund is the largest in the United States with $29.5 billion under management.

In August 2007, it emerged that Goldman had to spend $2 billion to rescue its own Global Equity Opportunities hedge fund from "significant market dislocation". Goldman pumps in $2bn to bail out hedge fund (Times Online)

GS Capital Partners GS Capital Partners is the private equity arm of Goldman Sachs. It has invested over $17 billion in the 20 years from 1986 to 2006. One of the most prominent funds is the GS Capital Partners V fund, which comprises over $8.5 billion of Ownership equity.> On April 23, 2007, Goldman closed GS Capital Partners VI with $20 billion in committed capital, $11 billion from qualified institutional and high net worth clients and $9 billion from the firm and its employees. GS Capital Partners VI is the current primary investment vehicle for Goldman Sachs to make large, privately negotiated equity investments.>

Major Assets (GS Group)

Predictions In December 2005, four years after its report on the emerging "BRIC" economies (Brazil, Russia, India, and China), Goldman Sachs named its "Next Eleven" list of countries, using macroeconomic stability, political maturity, openness of trade and investment policies and quality of education as criteria: Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, South Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Turkey and Vietnam.

Corporate citizenship Goldman Sachs has received favorable press coverage for conducting business and implementing internal policies related to reversing global climate change. According to the company web site, the Goldman Sachs Foundation has given $94 million in grants since 1999, with the goal of promoting youth education worldwide. The company also has been on Fortune Magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work For list since the list was launched in 1998.

Other Notable Alumni



Criticism and controversy On August 28, 2007, a former Goldman Sachs associate accused of being the mastermind behind an insider-trading scheme, one that pocketed $6.7 million, pled guilty in Federal District Court in Manhattan.

The FBI reported on July 6, 2007, that they are investigating letters sent to newspapers nationwide that say "Goldman Sachs. Hundreds will die. We are inside. You cannot stop us." The letters were post-marked in late June from Queens, New York and were handwritten in red ink on loose leaf paper, signed by "A.Q.U.S.A.".

In 2005, the firm advised both the New York Stock Exchange and Archipelago (Company), which owns an electronic trading platform, in merger talks. Controversy surrounded the deal as John Thain, who heads the New York Stock Exchange, was a former Goldman Sachs Executive.

Also in 2005, Goldman Sachs received criticism from civic groups and New York City politicians when they received approximately $1.6 billion in taxpayer subsidies (mostly through Liberty Bonds) from New York City and state taxpayers to finance the Firm's new headquarters near the World Financial Center in lower Manhattan in return for a commitment to keep at least 9000 employees and a major trading operation in Manhattan. It also comes with the expectation of the creation of at least 4000 new jobs by 2019.

In 1986, David Brown (trader) was convicted of passing inside information to Ivan Boesky on a takeover deal. Robert Freeman (investment banker) , who was a senior Partner, the Head of Risk Arbitrage, and a protégé of Robert Rubin, was also convicted of insider trading, with his own account and with the firm's.

See also Main competitors

References

External links

{{Infobox_Company | company_name = The Goldman Sachs Group | company_logo = ] | company_type = [Public company ({{NYSE|GS-->) | slogan = Our clients' interests always come first.| foundation = | location = ] [New York City, [New York| key_people = [Lloyd Blankfein, [Chair (official) & [CEO
[Gary Cohn, President & [Chief operating officer
[Jon Winkelried, President and COO
Suzanne M. Nora Johnson, Vice Chairman
David A. Viniar, [CFO
Edward C. Forst, CAO Gregory K. Palm, General Counsel
Esta E. Stecher, General Counsel
Kevin W. Kennedy, Head of Human Capital Management
Alan M. Cohen, Global Head of Compliance| num_employees = 30,335 ()| industry = [Finance and Insurance| products = [Investment bank| revenue = {{profit-->United States Dollar37.67 Billion ([)| net_income = {{profit-->United States Dollar9.54 Billion ([)| homepage = http://www.gs.com/ www.gs.com -->The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., or simply Goldman Sachs () is one of the world's largest global investment banks. Goldman Sachs was founded in 1869, and is headquartered in the Lower Manhattan area of New York City at 85 Broad Street (Manhattan). Goldman Sachs has offices in leading financial centers such as New York City, London, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Frankfurt, Zürich, Paris, São Paulo, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Beijing, Mexico City, Singapore, Salt Lake City, Sydney, Dubai, Milan, Melbourne, Tokyo, Taipei, Moscow, Toronto, and Monaco.

Goldman Sachs acts as a financial advisor to some of the most important companies, largest governments, and wealthiest families in the world. It is a Primary dealers in the U.S. Treasury Capital market. Goldman Sachs offers its clients mergers & acquisitions advisory, provides underwriting services, engages in proprietary trading, invests in private equity deals, and also manages the wealth of affluent individuals and families.

History Goldman Sachs was founded in 1869 by Germany Jew immigrant Marcus Goldman. The company made a name for itself pioneering the use of commercial paper for entrepreneurs and was invited to join the New York Stock Exchange in 1896. It was during this time that Goldman's son-in-law Samuel Sachs joined the firm which prompted the name change to Goldman Sachs.

In the early 20th Century, Goldman was a major player in establishing the Initial Public Offering market. It managed one of the largest IPO's to date, that of Sears, Roebuck and Company in 1906. It also became one of the first companies to heavily recruit those with MBA degrees from leading Business Schools, a practice that still continues today.

In 1929, it launched the Goldman Sachs Trading Corp., a closed-end mutual fund with characteristics similar to that of a Ponzi Scheme. The fund failed as a result of the Stock Market Crash of 1929, hurting the firm's reputation for several years afterward.

In 1930, Sidney Weinberg assumed the role of Senior Partner and shifted Goldman's focus away from Trading and towards Investment Banking. It was Weinberg's actions that helped to restore some of Goldman's tarnished reputation. On the back of Weinberg, Goldman was lead advisor on the Ford Motor Company IPO in 1956, which at the time was a major Coup d'état on Wall Street. Under Weinberg's reign the Firm also started an Investment Research division and a Municipal Bond department. It also was at this time that the firm became an early innovator in Risk Arbitrage.

Gus Levy joined the firm in the 1950s as a well known securities trader, which started a trend at Goldman where there would be two powers generally vie for supremacy, one from investment banking and one from securities trading. For most of the 1950s and 1960's, this would be Weinberg and Levy. Levy was a pioneer in block trade and the firm established this trend under his guidance. Due to Weinberg's heavy influence at the firm, it formed an Investment Banking Division in 1956 in an attempt to spread around influence and not focus it all on Weinberg.

In 1969, Levy took over as Senior Partner from Weinberg, and built Goldman's trading franchise once again. It is Levy who is credited with Goldman's famous philosophy of being "long term greedy," which implies that as long as money is made over the long term, trading losses in the short term are not to be worried about. That same year, Weinberg retired from the firm.

Another financial crisis for the firm occurred in 1970, when the Penn Central Railroad Company went bankrupt with over $80 million in commercial paper outstanding, most of it issued by Goldman Sachs. The bankruptcy was large, and the resulting lawsuits threatened the partnership capital and life of the firm. It was this bankruptcy that resulted in credit ratings being created for every issuer of commercial paper today by several credit rating services.

During the 1970s, the firm also expanded in several ways. Under the direction of Senior Partner Stanley R. Miller, it opened its first international office in London in 1970, and created a Private Wealth Management division along with a Fixed Income division in 1972. It also pioneered the "White knight (business)" strategy in 1974 during its attempts to defend Electric Storage Battery against a hostile takeover bid from International Nickel and Goldman's rival Morgan Stanley. This action would boost the firm's reputation as an investment advisor because it pledged to no longer participate in hostile takeovers.

John Weinberg (the son of Sidney Weinberg), and John C. Whitehead assumed roles of Co-Senior Partners in 1976, once again emphasizing the co-leadership at the firm. One of their most famous initiatives was the establishment of the 14 Business Principles that are still used to this day.

In the 1980s, the firm made a major move by acquiring J. Aron & Company, a commodities trading firm which merged with the Fixed Income division to become known as Fixed Income, Currencies, and Commodities. J. Aron was a major player in the coffee and gold markets, and the current CEO of Goldman, Lloyd Blankfein, joined the firm as a result of this merger. In 1985 it underwrote the public offering of the Real Estate Investment Trust that owned Rockefeller Center, then the largest REIT offering in history. In accordance with the beginning of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the firm also became largely involved in facilitating the global privatization movement by advising companies that were spinning off from their parent governments.

In 1986, the firm formed Goldman Sachs Asset Management, which manages the majority of its mutual funds and hedge funds today. In the same year, the firm also underwrote the IPO of Microsoft, advised GE on its acquisition of RCA and joined the London Stock Exchange and Tokyo stock exchanges. 1986 also was the year when Goldman became the first United States bank to rank in the top 10 of Mergers and Acquisitions in the United Kingdom. During the 1980s the firm became the first bank to distribute its investment research electronically and created the first public offering of original issue deep-discount Bond (finance).

Robert Rubin and Stephen Friedman (PFIAB) assumed the Co-Senior Partnership in 1990 and pledged to focus on globalization of the firm and strengthening the Merger & Acquisition and Trading business lines. During their reign, the firm introduced paperless trading to the New York Stock exchange and lead-managed the first-ever global debt offering by a U.S. corporation. It also launched the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index (GSCI) and opened a Beijing office in 1994. It was this same year that Jon Corzine assumed leadership of the firm following the departure of Rubin and Friedman. The firm joined David Rockefeller and partners in a 50-50 join ownership of Rockefeller Center during 1994, but later sold the shares to Tishman Speyer in 2000. In 1996, Goldman was lead underwriter of the Yahoo! IPO and in 1998 it was global coordinator of the NTT DoCoMo IPO. In 1999, Henry Paulson took over as Senior Partner.

One of the largest events in the firm's history was its own IPO in 1999. The decision to go public was a tough one that the partners debated for decades. In the end, Goldman decided to offer only a small portion of the company to the public, with some 48% still held by the partnership pool. 22% of the company is held by non-partner employees, and 18% is held by retired Goldman partners and two longtime investors, Sumitomo Bank Ltd. and Hawaii's Kamehameha Activities Assn (the investing arm of Kamehameha Schools). This leaves approximately 12% of the company as being held by the public. Henry Paulson became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the firm. Hull Trading Company, one of the world’s premier market-making firms, was acquired by Goldman in 1999 for $531 million.

More recently, the firm has been busy both in Investment Banking and in Trading activities. It purchased Spear, Leeds, & Kellogg, one of the largest specialists on the New York Stock Exchange, for $6.3 billion in September 2000. It also advised on a landmark debt offering for the Government of China and the first electronic offering for the World Bank. It merged with JBWere, the Australian investment bank and opened a full-service broker-dealer in Brazil. It expanded its investments in companies to include Burger King, McJunkin Corporation, and in January 2007, Alliance Atlantis alongside CanWest Global Communications to own sole broadcast rights to the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation franchise. In May 2006, Henry Paulson left the firm to serve as United States Secretary of the Treasury, and Lloyd Blankfein was promoted to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

On July 6th, 2007, several US newspapers received anonymous threat-letters targeting Goldman Sachs and its employees.

Corporate affairs As of 2006, Goldman Sachs employed 26,467 people worldwide. It reported earnings of US$9.54 billion and record earnings per share of $19.69. It was reported that the average total compensation per employee in 2006 was US$622,000. However, this number represents the arithmetic mean of total compensation and is highly skewed upwards as several hundred of the top earners command the majority of the Bonus Pools, leaving the actual median that most employees earn well below this number. The current Chief Executive Officer is Lloyd C. Blankfein. The company ranks #1 in Annual Net Income when compared with 86 peers in the Investment Services sector.

Recently Goldman Sachs has been increasingly involved in both advising and brokering deals to privatize major highways by selling them off to foreign investors. In addition to advising Indiana on the Toll Road deal, Goldman Sachs has worked with Texas governor Rick Perry's administration on privatization projects, and according to John Schmidt, the former adviser to the Chicago Mayor of Chicago, it was a Goldman Sachs representative who first pitched the city on the idea of leasing out the Skyway. Goldman Sachs has played a major role in advising states on how to structure privatization deals—even while positioning itself to invest in the toll road market.

Businesses Goldman Sachs is divided into three core businesses.

Investment banking Investment Banking is divided into two divisions and includes Financial Advisory (mergers and acquisitions, investitures, corporate defense activities, restructurings and spin-offs) and Underwriting (public offerings and private placements of Stock, equity-related and debt instruments). Goldman Sachs is one of the leading investment banks, appearing in Thomson Financial league tables. In mergers and acquisitions, it gained fame historically by advising clients on how to avoid hostile takeovers. Goldman Sachs, for a long time during the 1980s, was the only major investment bank with a strict policy against helping to initiate a hostile takeover, which increased Goldman's reputation immensely. This segment accounts for around 15 percent of Goldman Sachs' revenues.

Trading Trading and Principal Investments is the largest of the three core segments, and is the company's profit center. The segment is divided into three divisions and includes Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities (trading in interest rate and Credit (finance) products, Mortgage-backed security and loans, currencies and commodities, structured and derivative products), Equities (trading in equities, equity-related products, equity derivatives, structured products and executing client trades in equities, option (finance), and Futures contracts on world markets), and Principal Investments (merchant banking investments and funds). This segment consists of the revenues and profit gained from the Bank's trading activities, both on behalf of its clients (known as flow trading) and for its own account (known as proprietary trading).

Most trading done by Goldman is not Speculation, but rather an attempt to profit from bid-ask spreads in the process of acting as a market maker. Around 65 percent of Goldman's revenues and profits are derived from this area. Upon its IPO, Goldman predicted that this segment would not grow as fast as its Investment Banking division and would be responsible for a shrinking proportion of earnings. The opposite has been true, however, and resulted in Lloyd Blankfein's appointment to President and Chief Operating Officer after John Thain's departure to run the NYSE and John L. Thornton's departure for an academic position in China.

Asset management and securities services Asset Management and Securities Services is a rapidly growing business for Goldman as it gains market share. It is separated into two divisions, and includes Asset Management, which provides large institutions and very wealthy individuals with investment advisory, financial planning services, and the management of mutual funds, as well as the so-called alternative investments (hedge funds, Fund of funds, real estate funds, and private equity funds). The Securities Services division provides prime brokerage, financing services, and securities lending to mutual funds, hedge funds, pension funds, foundations, and High net worth individuals. This segment accounts for around 19 percent of Goldman's earnings. As of 2006, the Goldman Sachs Asset Management hedge fund is the largest in the United States with $29.5 billion under management.

In August 2007, it emerged that Goldman had to spend $2 billion to rescue its own Global Equity Opportunities hedge fund from "significant market dislocation". Goldman pumps in $2bn to bail out hedge fund (Times Online)

GS Capital Partners GS Capital Partners is the private equity arm of Goldman Sachs. It has invested over $17 billion in the 20 years from 1986 to 2006. One of the most prominent funds is the GS Capital Partners V fund, which comprises over $8.5 billion of Ownership equity.> On April 23, 2007, Goldman closed GS Capital Partners VI with $20 billion in committed capital, $11 billion from qualified institutional and high net worth clients and $9 billion from the firm and its employees. GS Capital Partners VI is the current primary investment vehicle for Goldman Sachs to make large, privately negotiated equity investments.>

Major Assets (GS Group)

Predictions In December 2005, four years after its report on the emerging "BRIC" economies (Brazil, Russia, India, and China), Goldman Sachs named its "Next Eleven" list of countries, using macroeconomic stability, political maturity, openness of trade and investment policies and quality of education as criteria: Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, South Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Turkey and Vietnam.

Corporate citizenship Goldman Sachs has received favorable press coverage for conducting business and implementing internal policies related to reversing global climate change. According to the company web site, the Goldman Sachs Foundation has given $94 million in grants since 1999, with the goal of promoting youth education worldwide. The company also has been on Fortune Magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work For list since the list was launched in 1998.

Other Notable Alumni



Criticism and controversy On August 28, 2007, a former Goldman Sachs associate accused of being the mastermind behind an insider-trading scheme, one that pocketed $6.7 million, pled guilty in Federal District Court in Manhattan.

The FBI reported on July 6, 2007, that they are investigating letters sent to newspapers nationwide that say "Goldman Sachs. Hundreds will die. We are inside. You cannot stop us." The letters were post-marked in late June from Queens, New York and were handwritten in red ink on loose leaf paper, signed by "A.Q.U.S.A.".

In 2005, the firm advised both the New York Stock Exchange and Archipelago (Company), which owns an electronic trading platform, in merger talks. Controversy surrounded the deal as John Thain, who heads the New York Stock Exchange, was a former Goldman Sachs Executive.

Also in 2005, Goldman Sachs received criticism from civic groups and New York City politicians when they received approximately $1.6 billion in taxpayer subsidies (mostly through Liberty Bonds) from New York City and state taxpayers to finance the Firm's new headquarters near the World Financial Center in lower Manhattan in return for a commitment to keep at least 9000 employees and a major trading operation in Manhattan. It also comes with the expectation of the creation of at least 4000 new jobs by 2019.

In 1986, David Brown (trader) was convicted of passing inside information to Ivan Boesky on a takeover deal. Robert Freeman (investment banker) , who was a senior Partner, the Head of Risk Arbitrage, and a protégé of Robert Rubin, was also convicted of insider trading, with his own account and with the firm's.

See also Main competitors

References

External links



Goldman Sachs
In an uncertain financial landscape, where spiking fuel prices and credit chaos are facts of life, handling dramatic change with calm and confidence is a must.

Goldman Sachs Careers
Which Position are you interested in?

BBC NEWS | Business | Goldman Sachs sees US recession
Goldman Sachs predicts a US recession in 2008 and says US interest rates will drop from 4.25% to 2.5%.

Goldman Sachs Graduate Applications & Internship Deadlines
Goldman Sachs application closing dates & Internship deadlines | Financial applications & deadlines for graduates in the finance sector

GS: Summary for GOLDMAN SACHS GRP - Yahoo! Finance
Get detailed information on GOLDMAN SACHS GRP (GS) including quote performance, Real-Time ECN, technical chart analysis, key stats, insider transactions, and the latest company ...

GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP, INC. Share Price GS GS - Interactive Investor
Free share price, company information and discussion board for Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., GS, from interactive investor, the UK's largest investment community.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc GS:NYQ - Performance - FT.com
As of last trade , Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS:NYQ) traded at 159.28, 13.55% above the 52 week low of 140.27 set on March 17, 2008.

Amazon.co.uk: Goldman Sachs: Lisa Endlich: Books
Amazon.co.uk: Goldman Sachs: Lisa Endlich: Books ... This item is not eligible for Amazon Prime, but millions of other items are.

GS - Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. - Google Finance
Get the latest on Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) including stock quotes, interactive charts, up to date news, high quality discussion groups and more on Google Finance.

Goldman Sachs - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., or simply Goldman Sachs (NYSE:  GS), is a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm.

 

Goldman Sachs



 
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