n00bish Question about Goldman Sachs

I don't really understand how GS is (historically at least) Wall Street's most profitable bank? How are they the most successful? Have their earnings been historically higher than any other investment banks (JPM, BofA, C)?

 
DreamMonkey:
How are they the most successful?
Because they make $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Get busy living
 
UFOinsider:
DreamMonkey:
How are they the most successful?
Because they make $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

There are many reasons for this:

  1. They struck a great balance between risky innovation (i.e. first major block traders) and following suit of other firms risky innovation once it proved stable (i.e. junk bonds/mortgage backed securities)

  2. Tend to hire from top business schools rather than rival firms because of their "plasticity" and are better able to adopt the culture of GS.

  3. Very culture oriented and collegiate atmosphere that focuses on being "long-term greedy" (i.e. john whitehead's 14 points). Being a partnership for so long allowed the firm to make more conservative decisions since there partners money was at stake and is embedded in the culture (however, this is not very apparent in todays world)

  4. Very strong leadership (i.e. sidney and john weinberg, bob rubin, john whitehead, etc)

  5. The idea of being a partner at the firm kept much of their top talent from moving to other firms even if they were offered higher pay (reduced management turnover)

  6. Very strong connections with some of the biggest corporations around the world (sidney weinberg was on the board of over 30 companies at one time)

  7. Last but not least, political connections. Sidney advised roosevelt during WWII, paulson and rubin were secs. of treasury, corzine was governor of jersey.

There are many other reasons for this such as innovation of sales techniques and pain-relieving PR machines but these are the main factors for their success. For further reading, i would suggest lisa endlich's culture of success and william cohan's money and power

 

tech investment, leadership, politics, the name itself snowballs into furthering the name... so many past politicians, lobbyists, washington employees have been GS employees... its all about connections and allows them to keep making more money

 

A lot of you make good points but I mean just look at 2010's earnings. JPMorgan for example made ~$17B, Goldman made ~$8B. Even Citi's earnings were higher. Maybe we're comparing apples to oranges b/c Goldman is a smaller bank in the sense they don't have retail/consumer banking and other misc divisions?

 
Best Response

Dude, who cares about earnings? Unless you are a shareholder, what does it matter.

On top of that, JPM, Citi, and BAC are megabanks, with IB and S&T being only a smaller portion of their business. JPM and Citi are both heavily involved in treasury services and payments processing. The three mentioned also have credit card businesses, consumer loans, home loans, small business loans, etc. GS, MS etc are institutional investment banks, and thus don't compete in those markets. As a result, they are going to have completely different earnings. Take a look at other measures besides overall earnings, such as EPS, to compare. However, they are fundamentally different companies so comparing GS and JPM is sort of irrelevant (although more relevant than comparing GS with JNJ or someone).

looking for that pick-me-up to power through an all-nighter?
 

Totam qui blanditiis laudantium dolore. At omnis rem dolorum dolor nulla. Voluptates praesentium quam odit modi laborum dolore sint ex.

Et velit aut dolore possimus esse adipisci. Et a voluptatem nulla expedita. A eveniet sed quisquam rem aut in quo. Omnis minima vitae quos minus. Sit assumenda quia neque corrupti nobis.

Career Advancement Opportunities

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. New 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (86) $261
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (14) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (205) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (145) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
numi's picture
numi
98.8
10
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”