GOLDMAN SACHS

The recondite investment bank whose very name evokes bags of gold, a firm as puissant as any on Wall Street, is investigated. Inside, it looks much as it does from the outside. Endlich, once a Goldman Sachs vice president, treats her former employer well. The firm thrived as a partnership well before the turn of the current century. But in 1917 Goldman left Sachs. The former, unhappily, was partial to the German view of the Great War. The business continued on its careful way, habitually eschewing innovation, Endlich says. Nevertheless, she reports, the firm pioneered on such practices as the use of price—earnings ratios to value equities. It was, and is, a leader in the arts of block trading and raid defense. Trading for its own account, it holds significant investments in such properties as Ralph Lauren fashions and AMF bowling balls. There are occasional problems. During the insider trading scandals, one partner was jailed. The firm’s close ties with the late Robert Maxwell caused difficulties with the SEC and British regulators. Endlich’s reports on these matters don’t dim her homage to the firm and its vaunted leaders. It is the last great partnership on the Street, and much is made of its ostensibly unique culture. Of special interest: the business is still privately held. Goldman Sachs has toyed with going public several times, most recently in early 1998. A public offering would infuse a solid capital base. It would also produce a great windfall for longtime partners and, culture be damned, disenfranchise subordinates. The latest plan was aborted when the market abruptly retreated. These schemes, as well as the atmosphere of trading and investment banking, are well described, despite the air of general approbation. The culture has been absorbed by the author. A new, complimentary angle on the ethnology of Wall Street. (8 pages photos, not seen)