The public relations gurus who are advising Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein might want to give him some new advice. Shut up!
As the world knows, the public is up in arms about the compensation being paid at financial companies that owe their very existence to massive government help. Ordinary citizens, earning ordinary pay (or none at all), burn to see bankers and Wall Streeters get rudely cut down to size. But what many people don't focus on is that lower pay for these corporate fat cats would simply mean more money for the shareholders who own their companies. At heart, it's this year's rebound in profits that is causing the commotion. Earnings at Goldman Sachs, currently everybody's favorite piñata, are up 70%; guessing what CEO Lloyd Blankfein will make has suddenly become a parlor game. Maddeningly for anyone already mad, the government spurred the profits by keeping interest rates low and allowing financial firms to fund their operations cheaply.
Goldman Sachs earned an eye-popping $3.2 billion last quarter. Now it's decided to share some of that with the little guys.
The national rage directed at Wall Street seems to be intensifying.
Furor over bonuses shouldn't obscure the role Goldman Sachs plays in fostering global economic growth, CEO Lloyd Blankfein said Friday.
Anyone expecting Lloyd Blankfein to issue a nostra culpa for all the financial crises in modern economic history will have been disappointed.
Don't believe Lloyd Blankfein when he says he feels your bonus pain.
Aristotle said tragedy should provide catharsis. The shock of the play was supposed to purify the audience. By that standard, the current financial crisis is more like a lesson in botany than Greek drama.
For the first time, Brazil, Russia, India, and China -- dubbed the BRIC nations -- held a summit this week to discuss the global economy and their role in it.
One of the few remaining mysteries from the fall of Bear Stearns is where's Alan Schwartz? Schwartz, as you may remember, was the affable M&A banker who had the misfortune of becoming Bear Stearns CEO in January 2008, two months before the 85-year-old firm collapsed.
The public relations gurus who are advising Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein might want to give him some new advice. Shut up!
As the world knows, the public is up in arms about the compensation being paid at financial companies that owe their very existence to massive government help. Ordinary citizens, earning ordinary pay (or none at all), burn to see bankers and Wall Streeters get rudely cut down to size. But what many people don't focus on is that lower pay for these corporate fat cats would simply mean more money for the shareholders who own their companies. At heart, it's this year's rebound in profits that is causing the commotion. Earnings at Goldman Sachs, currently everybody's favorite piñata, are up 70%; guessing what CEO Lloyd Blankfein will make has suddenly become a parlor game. Maddeningly for anyone already mad, the government spurred the profits by keeping interest rates low and allowing financial firms to fund their operations cheaply.
Goldman Sachs earned an eye-popping $3.2 billion last quarter. Now it's decided to share some of that with the little guys.
The national rage directed at Wall Street seems to be intensifying.
Furor over bonuses shouldn't obscure the role Goldman Sachs plays in fostering global economic growth, CEO Lloyd Blankfein said Friday.
Anyone expecting Lloyd Blankfein to issue a nostra culpa for all the financial crises in modern economic history will have been disappointed.
Don't believe Lloyd Blankfein when he says he feels your bonus pain.
Aristotle said tragedy should provide catharsis. The shock of the play was supposed to purify the audience. By that standard, the current financial crisis is more like a lesson in botany than Greek drama.
For the first time, Brazil, Russia, India, and China -- dubbed the BRIC nations -- held a summit this week to discuss the global economy and their role in it.
One of the few remaining mysteries from the fall of Bear Stearns is where's Alan Schwartz? Schwartz, as you may remember, was the affable M&A banker who had the misfortune of becoming Bear Stearns CEO in January 2008, two months before the 85-year-old firm collapsed.
Wall Street chieftains long ago stopped marking the progression of the financial crisis with sports analogies. That's because they got it completely wrong when they did so last spring. The game was clearly not in the early fourth quarter, as Goldman Sachs boss Lloyd Blankfein suggested, nor in the "eighth or ninth inning," as John Mack, who runs Morgan Stanley, asserted.
Banks may need money - they just claim that they don't want it from the U.S. government anymore.
The chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., invited CEOs from the first eight companies that received bailout funds to testify in an accountability hearing on the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Goldman Sachs suffered its first loss as a publicly traded company Tuesday, serving as yet another reminder that no corner of Wall Street has escaped the ongoing financial crisis.
Global stocks wavered Monday on news that Japan's economy, the second largest in the world, had fallen into recession.
With some $3.4 billion in revenue, Goldman Sachs's commodities desk is not just a cash cow - it has also been a launchpad for CEO Lloyd Blankfein and president Gary Cohn.
Second quarter earnings fell about 10 percent, but the world's largest investment bank still easily beat lowered Wall Street expectations
The average rate of pay for top executives came down last year though CEOs at larger companies received substantial raises, according to a study released Thursday.
PALM BEACH, Fla. -- New England owner Robert Kraft, hustling to a meeting this morning at the annual NFL meetings at this mecca of wealth, stopped in his tracks when he saw a former Patriots employee off the lobby of The Breakers hotel. Kraft stuck out his hand and warmly shook Thomas Dimitroff's.
Big investors are pressuring companies to let them have some input on executive compensation. But will it actually rein in eye-popping pay packages?
Maybe the financial system isn't on the verge of collapse after all.
Lloyd Blankfein worries. True, as CEO of Goldman Sachs, he stands at the summit of the financial world. He just led his firm to its best year ever. He was paid $68.7 million in 2007 - record for a Wall Street chief - and recently bought a $26.5 million apartment at 15 Central Park West, the Robert A.M. Stern-designed building that also houses Sting and Sandy (Weill). But still, Lloyd Blankfein worries. "If you're really poor at what you do, maybe there's a 9% chance that you'll have a problem," he frequently says. "If you're really, really good, maybe there's a 3% chance." Or he says, "If you're on a beach and a tsunami hits, you'll drown whether you're a small child or an Olympic swimmer." Or he says simply, "Some things will go bad no matter how good you are."
They may have ridden to the rescue of Citigroup and Merrill Lynch in the past couple of months, but the rise of so-called sovereign wealth funds - huge state investment vehicles from places like Russia, Kuwait and Singapore with billions of dollars to invest - has sparked a nervous reaction in the U.S. and prompted official calls for the funds to be subject to an international code of conduct.
Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein will take home nearly $68 million in restricted stock, options and cash, making it the largest bonus ever given to a Wall Street CEO.
So marks another banner year for Goldman Sachs employees.
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein could take home as much as $70 million this year, according to a published report.
It's the latest entry into the annals of ridiculous wealth, and some of Wall Street's biggest names are getting ready to move in: Brand-new 15 Central Park West has been causing a fuss ever since it sold out its $2 billion worth of real estate in less than two years. Hedge funder Daniel Loeb raised eyebrows when he paid $45 million, or $4,200 a square foot, for his pad on the "tower" side two years ago, but it turned out to be a value play: Sandy Weill paid $6,200 a square foot for his.
Credit markets continued to weigh on the minds of some high-profile Wall Street CEOs Tuesday, with at least two key execs warning of more gloom in the months ahead.
Stocks rallied Tuesday, as Wal-Mart's earnings report, upbeat comments from Goldman Sachs' CEO and falling oil prices gave investors a reason to return after a tough period that left the Dow below 13,000 for the first time this fall.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. on Thursday reported third-quarter results well ahead of Wall Street projections, as the world's largest investment bank realized gains from takeover advice and the sale of its holdings in an energy company.
Just how red-hot is the current worldwide expansion? "This is far and away the strongest global economy I've seen in my business lifetime," U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson declared on a recent visit to Fortune's offices.
MARKETS: Business is Back! April was such a charm! And here we are in May and the beat goes on. Like this on Wednesday: "Orders to U.S. factories surged in March by the largest amount in a year..." (Business is back!) TWX and YUM earnings were tasty and so we have another record for the Dow, crossing (Jordan) 13,200 for the first time. What was really nice to see was that the NAZ and S&P outpaced the Dow, because so much of the rally recently was big stocks outperforming (and playing catch up really with) the rest of the market. Finally the folks who've been saying that big caps looked cheap are looking smart.....Third time's a charm with Cablevision, right? Dolans are paying out $36.26 a share. Can you believe they originally offered $27 last fall? Good for the board to get up, stand up, get up for your rights!....Hey what are you doing this weekend, The (Kentucky) Derby or BRK's annual meeting? Hard to do both, trust me.....
The pay packages of top hedge fund managers dwarfed the biggest salaries on Wall Street, according to a report Tuesday.
On Wall Street there's good and then there's Goldman. Widely considered the best of the bulge-bracket investment firms, Goldman Sachs was the sole member of the securities industry to make our 2006...
MARKETS: There you have it, in a nutshell, the whole trading year - all wrapped up in the first session of the year. Stocks started Tuesday strong, but ended up just a smidge: Dow up 11(actually the S&Ps fell a point plus) on concerns about the soft housing sector. Interestingly I was talking to one of the most famous hedge fund managers in the world (think Soros or Robertson, but not one of those two and I can't name him right yet), and he was saying that while the trend for U.S. stocks in his mind is up for 2007, he has this nagging underpinning of worry. He isn't sure what the bugbear is and that makes him uneasy. So it could be housing, but I say it's NEVER the 18-wheeler you see coming two miles away that kills you. It's something that sneaks up on you: from nat gas prices to Long Term Capital to (heaven help us), 9/11. On the other hand, it's a healthy rally that climbs a wall of worry. I'm concerned though, as is Lloyd Blankfein (CEO Of Goldman Sachs), that there just aren't any risk premiums o...
Goldman Sachs is handing out big, fat holiday gifts to its employees this year, with an average 25 percent hike in pay per employee, resulting in a record-high compensation package.
Was down on the floor of the NYSE during the 9/11 moment of silence yesterday and, boy, was that emotional. Producer Ashley says they should keep the two pillars of light up every night, instead of building the Freedom Tower. Hmmm.....
Goldman Sachs may be bidding adieu to Chairman and Chief Executive Henry Paulson, but don't expect Paulson's exit to mark any slowdown in the company's stellar growth, making Goldman Sachs a hot bet for investors.
Larry Fink, co-founder and CEO of money-management firm BlackRock, which just agreed to merge with Merrill Lynch's investment-management business, is in a car on his way from Manhattan to central N...
DAVID CALHOUN General Electric LEADING HEADHUNTERS AGREE: The No. 1 draft pick in the game of grabbing top executive talent--the most lusted-after managerial star who isn't already a CEO--is David Calhoun of General Electric. "He's the top of the list," says Gerry Roche of executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles. "He's the complete package," says Roche's archrival, Tom Neff of SpencerStuart. In this game, if Roche and Neff say you're it, you're it.
If I weren't afraid to assert anything with any kind of confidence, I would tell you that I'm the most insecure person in the world.
There is little about Wall Street that still feels larger than life. The scandals of the last bull market have smudged much of the luster, and consolidation has dulled some of the history, making t...
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