Goldman Sachs Group Inc. | The New York Observer

The Great Geithner Giveaway, Part II

Tue, 12 May 2009 19:04:18 -0400

For today’s sermon, let us return to the always popular subject, Your Dollars and Mine at Work and Play. I doubt that 1 in 10,000 of We the Taxpayers (and 0 in 535 on Capitol Hill) has a grasp of what has really been going on in the Great Geithner Giveaway, so let me lay it out for you before moving on to the relevant texts. After reading this, you might care to have...

Of Goldman, Geithner and Grifters

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:27:26 -0400

Last week I turned 73. In all that time (as it seems to me), I cannot recall seeing anything in a newspaper that filled me with as much disgust and outrage as this, which appeared on the front page of Sunday’s New York Times: “After Off Year, Wall Street Pay Is Bouncing Back.”

I brooded on this a good part of the day. The Times piece reported that average (not median, average) pay at...

Yes, Virginia, There Is a Goldman Sachs

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:12:11 -0400

When one looks at the financial/economic mess, one cannot help but be moved and saddened by the “collateral damage,” as functionaries call innocent bystanders killed and maimed in a terrorist or counterterrorist assault. Among the victims, start with the people who owned good stocks in 401(k) and investment accounts who’ve seen their retirement accounts down by 40 percent, even after the recent rally. For that we can thank the hedge funds and the shorts....

Beautiful Banker Yields Interest: Life After Goldman Is a Catwalk!

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 19:10:56 -0500

Jesse, a 27-year-old former New York City investment banker, moved to Buenos Aires 11 months ago. In the last few months, he says the trickle has turned into a full spray: On average he meets two new arrivals a week. “There is a huge global migration of newly unemployed bankers to Buenos Aires,” he said. “The funny thing is that most of them claim that they left voluntarily, but none of them can...

Don’t Blame the Bonuses

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:01:12 -0500

With jobs in jeopardy and investments limping, it’s understandable that Main Street takes comfort in finding a bogeyman to blame for the country’s current economic miseries. And last month, when the New York State comptroller announced that Wall Street handed out $18.4 billion in bonuses for 2008, Main Street didn’t even have to get up from its easy chair to find a suitable villain. The White House amplified the chorus of boos, as...

Leasing and Sales News: Big Lease in Goldman’s 1372 Broadway; I-Firm Signs Up at Tower 49

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:21:51 -0500

Li & Fung Group, a consumer goods behemoth, has taken a full floor in press-shy Lloyd Goldman’s 1372 Broadway, which the quietly powerful developer bought from the struggling Wachovia Bank for a decidedly under-market $274 million in October. (Even better, Wachovia financed the purchase.)

Li & Fung didn’t respond to our requests for comment. But, sources say that the previous tenant of the 36,000-square-foot floor, ThruPoint, had recently returned it to...

Detox Aggregation: Buddy Up With Beijing

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:03:24 -0500

“De mortuis nihil nisi bonum …” “Of the dead speak aught but good.”

The ancient admonition seems the only way to hedge the reflection that as bad as Citi’s problems are, how much worse might they have been had Walter Wriston still been running the bank. It was the late Citibank CEO who, when he took over from George Moore in 1967, contrived to implant the go-go gene in...

A Moment of Silence, Please, for the Holiday Party

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:24:19 -0500

Hearst Corporation, ABC News, Marc Jacobs and oil and gas billionaire David Koch have all canceled their holiday parties. (Barry Diller, the CEO of the media conglomerate IAC, however, has not.)

In a handy little slideshow, The Business Sheet looks back to last year and reminds us how corporate New York holiday party season looked before decadent parties were canceled in favor of charity donations, small get-togethers, and extra vacation days. Some of their...

Outgoing Whitehall Head Warned of Goldman's Over-Exposure

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:05:06 -0500

On Nov. 6, at a Real Estate Board of New York event open to the press, Stuart Rothenberg, the 45-year-old, soon-to-retire head of Goldman Sach's Whitehall Fund, publicly warned of the firm's exposures to commercial real estate. According to Bloomberg:

Goldman had increased its equity stakes in the Whitehall fund family it manages and had invested more of its own balance sheet in commercial property when markets were booming, Rothenberg told the Real...

Shine's Off Goldman's Whitehall Funds

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 10:46:24 -0500

The Wall Street Journal's Anton Troianovski and Lingling Wei run down the challenges facing Goldman Sachs' once-ballyhood Whitehall real estate funds. The funds, named after the downtown Manhattan street near Goldman's headquarters, have over the last few years provided the financial muscle in deals including the Helmsley Building, 245 Fifth Avenue and 417 Fifth Avenue (and, for that matter, Rockefeller Center back in 1996).

But times, of course, have changed and some of these investments...

Bonus Points for Goldman

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:57:37 -0500

With the announcement last week that its top seven executives would forgo annual bonuses for 2008, Goldman Sachs continues to demonstrate why it has always stood out from the rest of Wall Street as a leader that represents the best in capitalism. By giving up tens of millions of dollars in compensation, Goldman’s chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, its co-presidents, Gary Cohn and Jon Winkelried, and their colleagues understand that in tough times, leadership by...

Head of Goldman's Real Estate Investment Retiring at 45

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:58:56 -0500

Stuart Rothenberg, who has headed Goldman Sachs' real estate investment division since 2003, announced on Thursday that he's retiring at age 45, the Wall Street Journal reports. Mr. Rothenberg will remain at Goldman as a consultant for its well-known Whitehall family of funds. ...

Citing Real Estate Exposure, Goldman Cuts Prudential, MetLife Ratings

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:43:41 -0400

Citing their significant exposure to residential and commercial real estate, Goldman Sachs cut its rating for Prudential Financial to "sell," and its rating for MetLife Insurance to "neutral," according to Reuters:

Goldman Sachs, in a research note, cut its rating on Prudential Financial (PRU.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to "sell" and reduced its 12-month price target on the stock to $40 a share from $58.

Analyst...

Manhattan, Deleveraged

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 19:06:59 -0400

Down on Wall Street, the word of the hour is “deleveraging.” In the financial markets, deleveraging is a brutal and unpleasant thing, where lots of innocents get badly hurt.

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have become plain old-fashioned bank holding companies. Lehman declared bankruptcy. The bull (Merrill) and the Bear (Stearns) have both been incorporated ignominiously into vastly larger megabanks.

Six years into his stewardship of Charlotte-based Bank of America,...

Mighty Goldman Pulls Back From Once Heady Commercial Securities Market

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:24:37 -0400

Here’s how you know the commercial-mortgage-backed securities market is in deep slumber: Goldman Sachs, king of the Wall Street shops, hasn’t originated a CMBS loan in nine months, according to two sources close to the bank.

It’s no secret that banks like Wachovia and Lehman and UBS are no longer issuing securities backed by mortgages with the ease of missionaries distributing Gideon Bibles. Investors have had to start hitting up balance-sheet lenders,...

It's Year's Largest New Lease, But So What? Assessing AIG's Gobble of Goldman's Maiden Space

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:36:20 -0400

Insurance giant AIG has assumed the remainder of Goldman Sachs’ lease at 180 Maiden Lane, which, at 800,000 square feet, is the largest lease transaction so far in 2008.

“We will consolidate several AIG offices in Manhattan to 180 Maiden Lane,” said a source familiar with the deal. “Seventy Pine will remain our corporate headquarters.”

The move will be executed in phases, beginning this September, with AIG fully occupying the 30 floors...

AIG Takes 800,000 Feet at 180 Maiden Lane in Year's Biggest Lease Deal

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:17:43 -0400

AIG has just assumed the remainder of Goldman Sachs' lease at 180 Maiden Lane. At 800,000 square feet, it's the largest lease transaction so far this year.

"We will consolidate several AIG offices in Manhattan to 180 Maiden Lane," said a source familiar with the deal. "70 Pine will remain our corporate headquarters."

The move will be executed in phases, beginning this September, with AIG fully occupying the 30 floors by 2011.

...

'Plunged 18 Stories... Landed Like a Knife in The Grass'

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:35:25 -0400

The Bloomberg administration and the City Council on Wednesday unvieled a 13-point legislative package aimed at improving construction safety.

It couldn't come too soon in Lower Manhattan, where Goldman Sachs is building its new 43-story headquarters at West and Vesey streets. From the Wall Street Journal yesterday:

[T]he $2.4 billion building has been beset by problems. In December, architect Robert Woo suffered paralyzing injuries when seven tons of aluminum wall studs fell from the building...

15CPW ALERT! Blankfeins Buy Again!

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:03:40 -0400

Laura Blankfein, the wife of Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, paid $701,000 for Suite 807 ("suite" being the euphemism for a staff apartment) at 15 Central Park West, city records show.

The Observer's Max Abelson reported that the Blankfeins closed on a 16th-floor duplex condo in the building back in January when the extent of the subprime mortgage crisis' impact on Wall Street was finally becoming clear. The couple signed the contract for the...

15CPW ALERT! Former Goldman Sachs Banker Buys (Again!)

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:21:33 -0500

Just one week after paying $11 million for a sixth-floor condo at 15 Central Park West, the founding partner of the Canyon Capital consulting firm, Josh Friedman, has closed on an $810,000 unit there as well, according to city records filed today. It's presumably one of the 29 maids' suites on the lower floors of the building, and he bought it through a family trust, records show.

Mr. Friedman used to work in...

The Goldman Army Grows at 15 CPW

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 12:31:32 -0500

So many Goldman Sachs bankers snapped up condos at 15 Central Park West in January that you would think they got coupons from the Zeckendorff brothers who developed it.

Goldman Sachs partner Donald C. Opatrny closed on an $11.8 million condo at 15 Central Park West, according to a city record filed Tuesday, making him the fifth Goldman banker to buy an apartment in the building in the past month.

The firm's managing...

Goldman Sachs Waiting It Out in One New York Plaza

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:48:00 -0500

Crain's reports that Goldman Sachs has extended its lease of 517,000 square feet at Brookfield Properties' One New York Plaza for 15 months as it awaits the completion of its new headquarters on West Street in Lower Manhattan. The headquarters is supposed to be done by late 2009. ...

It's Official! 230 Park Trades for $1.15 B.

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 10:52:58 -0500

Istithmar has announced the $1.15 billion sale of the former Helmsley Tower at 230 Park Avenue. A partnership between a Goldman Sachs fund and Monday Properties bought the 34-story tower, which Istithmar itself bought in 2005 for $705 million.

The Observer talked with Istithmar CEO David Jackson earlier this year. News of 230 Park's imminent sale was already out....

Goldman Sachs Bonuses to Average $600,000 Per Employee

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 09:11:21 -0500

Goldman Sachs, the world's largest investment bank, is set to report on Tuesday a record annual profit of $11 billion, according to news reports this morning. More importantly for New York City and its real estate market, the average Goldman Sachs year-end bonus is expected to average an astounding $600,000 per employee--about double the average paid at other...

WSJ: Related Companies to Receive Whole Lot of Money

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 10:46:02 -0500

Stephen Ross’s Related Companies is receiving an infusion of $1.4 billion from investors, including Goldman Sachs and investment firms from the Middle East, according to an article in today’s Wall Street Journal [subscription].

The firm is apparently now worth about $5 billion, the Journal tells us:

The deal, which is expected to be announced today, includes about $400 million in equity from Goldman and MSD Capital, Michael Dell's investment...

Crane Malfunction Injures One at Goldman Sachs Tower Site [UPDATED]

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 14:53:10 -0500

Editor's note: This is an update to an earlier breaking news story.

A construction accident at the site of Goldman Sachs’ new world headquarters downtown injured one worker this morning, as a crane dropped a seven-ton cargo load on a trailer, according to preliminary reports from the Fire Department and Department of Buildings.

The crane, located on the 30th floor of the tower-to-be, was lifting a load of metal wall studs...

Accident at Goldman Sachs Tower Site Injures One

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 14:17:25 -0500

The Associated Press is reporting that an architect has been injured in an accident at the Goldman Sachs tower, currently under construction by the World Trade Center site.

A crane dropped a load of metal rods and sheet rock onto a trailer, injuring an unnamed architect. The condition of the worker was not released, according to the report.

We’ve got requests out to Tishman Construction Corp., which is...

Report: Goldman, KKR Prepare $24 B. Bid For Macy's

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 07:20:25 -0400

Women's Wear Daily is reporting this morning that Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Goldman Sachs Group are preparing a $24 billion bid to buy the Macy's retail chain.

According to WWD, a bid was expected last weekend, and both parties want to finalize a deal in time for Macy's investors' meetings scheduled for July 23:

Should a deal come to fruition, it is believed KKR would keep current Macy's management in place, including chairman and chief...

Associate Gets Crushed Beneath White Shoe

Sun, 18 Feb 2007 19:00:00 -0500

Early on the morning of Feb. 13, 28-year-old former Sullivan & Cromwell associate Aaron Charney was not far from the white-shoe conference rooms at the firm’s offices on Broad Street, in the financial district. But how far he had fallen! He was consulting with labor lawyers from Alterman & Boop, the scrappy but respected Worth Street firm with the name out of Dickens, where callers get piped Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon while they’re...

Spotlight on the Wealth Gap: Goldman’s Wretched Excess

Sun, 07 Jan 2007 19:00:00 -0500

In 1992, I wrote a short book about a number of things going on in this country that I thought we as a polity would be well advised to take a hard look at before they got hopelessly out of control. My focus was mainly on what I saw as the developing takeover of what I called “The Public Capital”—the right to draw on the full faith and credit of We, the People, the...

New Head for City's Economic Development Corporation?

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 09:08:43 -0500

Crain's is reporting that Robert Lieber, a managing director of Lehman Brothers, has accepted the presidency of the city's Economic Development Corporation. Mr. Lieber would take over from Andrew Alper, a former COO of Goldman Sachs, who left the EDC post in June after four years. - Tom...

No, No, No. Yes. The Mayor's Curious Evolution on Public Money for Private Real Estate

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 19:00:00 -0500

Mayor Bloomberg came into office vowing to end corporate welfare as we know it. And he did.

Unless your name is George Steinbrenner, Hank Paulson or Hank McKinnell. On his first day as Mayor-elect, Mr. Bloomberg renounced the property- and sales-tax breaks that his own media company received for its 59th Street headquarters. “Any company that makes a decision as to where they are going to be based on the tax rate,”...

No, No, No. Yes. The Mayor’s Curious Evolution on Public Money for Private Real Estate

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 19:00:00 -0500

Mayor Bloomberg came into office vowing to end corporate welfare as we know it. And he did. Unless your name is George Steinbrenner, Hank Paulson or Hank McKinnell. On his first day as Mayor-elect, Mr. Bloomberg renounced the property- and sales-tax breaks that his own media company received for its 59th Street headquarters. “Any company that makes a decision as to where they are going to be based on the tax rate,” he...

The Afternoon Wrap: Tuesday

Tue, 07 Nov 2006 10:06:20 -0500

"Let me tell you about Brooklyn." If you're an average Joe at Goldman Sachs, you'll likely be grabbing a $397,707 bonus this year. And all that goes straight into your vulgar pied-a-terre fund. [Dealbreaker] 110 British travel agents didn't know anything about Brooklyn, so Borough Prez Marty Markowitz (at right) shed a tear. Then he told the Brits about all the great "ethnic enclaves" (and museums and restaurants) in his beloved hometown. [NY Daily News] But...

Goldman to Buy Embassy Suites B.P.C.?

Thu, 20 Jul 2006 11:05:02 -0400

According to Downtown Express, Goldman Sachs is negotiating with Embassy Suites to buy its 453-room hotel in Battery Park City. A lawyer for Goldman wrote a letter to Community Board 1 saying that an agreement would be signed by tomorrow, with a closing a month later.
A DE source, noting that the building is "really ugly," said that Goldman will "likely either demolish the building or change its facade .... "
Goldman recently began construction...

Arbitragedy: A Hedge-Fund Poet's Bittersweet Ballad

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 20:00:00 -0400

“Really? Wow, that sounds so interesting!” he said, and winked. “I mean, that sounds so cool!” What the heck, I wondered? Don’t lots of people in New York work for...

Arbitragedy: A Hedge-Fund Poet’s Bittersweet Ballad

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 20:00:00 -0400

Recently, I met a man at a bar who asked me what I did. Not in the mood to split hairs over whether he meant “money” work or inner calling, I answered, apparently slurring heavily: “I work at a hedge fund. “Really? Wow, that sounds so interesting!” he said, and winked. “I mean, that sounds so cool!” What the heck, I wondered? Don’t lots of people in New York work for financial institutions?...

The World's Most Valuable Booby Prize?

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 05:30:00 -0400

Goldman Sachs is becoming the revolving door of choice for high-powered Republicans with a talent for politics and money. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, Condi's number two at the State Department, is leaving the Bush Administration to join the Wall Street giant as a managing director and as vice chairman of its international division. His announcement comes less than a month after Bush tapped the firm's chairman and CEO, Henry Paulson, to be...

DeWine and the Boys

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 13:00:00 -0400

We're hearing rumors (okay, we've seen the invite) that U.S. Senator Mike DeWine will be parachuting into the city next Monday, June 26, to raise some old fashioned New York cash for his November re-election bid. The fund-raiser will take place at the 21 Club -- one of the original old-boy hangouts -- where guests will pay $1,000 for lunch or $2,100 if they want to rub shoulders with Mr. DeWine & Co. at a...

Treasury Secretary: Designate Jr. Paulson ‘Likes to Hold Snakes’

Sun, 04 Jun 2006 20:00:00 -0400

Henry Paulson Jr., the chairman and chief executive of Goldman Sachs, likes snakes. “I like to hold them and look at them,” the banker and amateur herpetologist once told an interviewer. It was perhaps tempting, then, after President George W. Bush on May 30 declared Mr. Paulson his choice to be the next Secretary of the Treasury, to focus on that qualification: Mr. Paulson—“Hank,” the President called him, as all Mr. Paulson’s friends do—knows...

The Un-Paulson

Fri, 02 Jun 2006 10:12:26 -0400

Goldman Sachs has just announced that it has chosen Lloyd Blankfein to replace Hank Paulson as its new Chairman and CEO -- and from a quick scan of his political-giving history, it looks like he won't taking over his predecessor's duties as star GOP fund-raiser. In addition to giving $3,000 to Mr. Bush's 2004 presidential opponent, John Kerry, and $1000 to his 2000 opponent, Al Gore, he has given regularly and abundantly to Democratic candidates...

Whitehead: "More Advanced Age to Enjoy"

Thu, 11 May 2006 11:42:05 -0400

The 84-year-old John Whitehead, a World War II veteran and former Goldman Sachs head, resigned as chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation. "Four-and-a-half years is a long time for a supposedly retired person of advanced age and I hope to have more advanced age to enjoy," he said at a meeting this morning. The Governor and Mayor will choose his successor at the L.M.D.C. At the...

Tough Traders Don't Dance

Sun, 23 Apr 2006 20:00:00 -0400

Last June, when the red paperback 357-page Harvard and Radcliffe Class of 2000 Fifth Anniversary Report landed in alumni mailboxes, it contained the usual student-penned bios, written in the arch, self-congratulatory yet self-mocking tone which has long been the acceptable pose of America’s rising elites. Eugene Plotkin’s entry, for example, chronicled his swift ascent through the ranks of amateur and professional ballroom dancing, his feature-length film (which was “awaiting decision from the Sundance Film...

Tough Traders Don’t Dance

Sun, 23 Apr 2006 20:00:00 -0400

Last June, when the red paperback 357-page Harvard and Radcliffe Class of 2000 Fifth Anniversary Report landed in alumni mailboxes, it contained the usual student-penned bios, written in the arch, self-congratulatory yet self-mocking tone which has long been the acceptable pose of America’s rising elites. Eugene Plotkin’s entry, for example, chronicled his swift ascent through the ranks of amateur and professional ballroom dancing, his feature-length film (which was “awaiting decision from the Sundance Film...

It's a Ripa-Off!

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 03:20:26 -0500

Kelly and Mark build. The banker flips. No sooner do we report that Kelly Ripa has sold her Soho apartment than the buyer puts it on the market again. With the same agent Ripa used (Alida Rubin, of the Corcoran Group). For half a million dollars more than Ripa got for it. Within weeks of closing the deal with Ripa. The flipper in this case is former Goldman Sachs investment banker Michael Rubinoff. He's...

Woody Buys $25.9 M Townhouse

Thu, 19 Jan 2006 09:19:00 -0500

Fresh off his critical success with Match Point, director Woody Allen is treating himself to a $25.9 million townhouse, according to a source with knowledge of the deal. Last week, the acclaimed filmmaker signed a contract for a 20-foot-wide, Georgian-style townhouse on East 70th Street, which had been listed with broker Louise Beit, of Sotheby’s International Realty. Designed by Trowbridge & Livingston in 1901, the stunning 16-room home includes 11-foot ceilings, ornate moldings, 10 fireplaces, and...

Good News, Bad News

Fri, 14 Oct 2005 11:04:00 -0400

Lately, “good news” at Ground Zero has really just been the undoing of bad news: Goldman Sachs, Freedom Tower. At a lunch before the New York Building Congress today, the Governor delivered the first truly good news in a while: American Express is taking another 200,000 square feet in the World Financial Center. Of course, there is still more than 4 million square feet of office space going up across the street at the World...

Build Anything Anywhere Please—Even in My Backyard

Thu, 13 Oct 2005 12:57:00 -0400

Seems like all those sweaty press conferences this summer about breaking ground on the Calatrava transit station, fortifying the Freedom Center and subsidizing Goldman Sachs did little for the way New Yorkers view the Governor. Just 18 percent of city voters want Pataki in charge at Ground Zero, compared to 24 percent in May, according to a Quinnipiac poll cited by Crain’s. Some 65 percent of those surveyed would rather the Mayor take the...

Goldman Rising

Fri, 09 Sep 2005 12:57:00 -0400

More details on the Goldman Sachs lease, obtained by The Real Estate thanks to the Freedom of Information Law: --As The Observer has reported, Goldman only wanted to return to Battery Park City if it could be guaranteed that the city and state would get its act together on security. The lease stipulates that authorities have until December 31, 2009, to come up with a security plan for the World Trade Center area, or Goldman...

Eleventh-Hour Inspiration

Thu, 01 Sep 2005 13:28:00 -0400

In the rush to get things done, the Empire State Development Corporation gave "final authorization" to $1.65 billion in low interest Liberty Bonds for the Goldman Sachs headquarters near Ground Zero on Aug. 15. Now, in the enviable way that our state government works, it is time for the public hearing, scheduled for Sept. 7. The IRS tax regulations which govern the Liberty Bonds (Title 26, Sect.147(f)2.B) say that a bond issue needs...