Finance & economics | Stick to Wall Street

Goldman Sachs’s disastrous Main Street gamble

The firm announces a third reshuffle in almost as many years

FILE -- The lobby at Goldman Sachs in New York, June 18, 2021. The investment bank will let workers take as much time off as they want, but some observers see the policy as more of a cost-saving move, with no more unused vacation days and no need to pay them out later. (Jeenah Moon/The New York Times)Credit: New York Times / Redux / eyevineFor further information please contact eyevinetel: +44 (0) 20 8709 8709e-mail: info@eyevine.comwww.eyevine.com

Oct 18th 2022|Washington, DC

How hard can it be? Goldman Sachs is supposed to employ the sharpest minds in finance. Traders on the other side of a deal shake in fear; bosses flock to its bankers for advice; investors hang on its analysts’ every word. In 2016, when Goldman launched its consumer business, it seemed only a matter of time before these masters of the universe mastered the pedestrian business of making loans to ordinary people. But it is clear now—after the third reshuffle in almost as many years was announced on October 18th—that Goldman should have stuck to Wall Street.

This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Stick to Manhattan”