Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs is a major American investment bank and financial services firm, established in 1869. Its headquarters are in Manhattan’s Battery Park City neighborhood, and it has offices in financial hubs worldwide. By revenue, it ranks among the largest investment banks globally, placing 32nd on the Fortune 500 list of top U.S. corporations. In the 2026 Forbes Global 2000, it came in 19th. The Financial Stability Board classifies it as a systemically important financial institution.

The company provides investment banking services, including mergers and acquisitions advice and restructuring, along with securities underwriting, prime brokerage, asset management, and wealth management. It acts as a market maker across various financial products and offers clearing and custodian bank services. Goldman Sachs runs private-equity and hedge funds, structures complex custom financial products, and owns Goldman Sachs Bank USA, a direct bank. It trades for clients (flow trading) and for its own account (proprietary trading). The firm also invests in and arranges financing for startups, often securing additional business as bookrunner when those companies go public.

**History**

**Founding and establishment**

Goldman Sachs was founded in 1869 by Marcus Goldman in a one-room basement office in New York City, next to a coal chute. In 1882, his son-in-law Samuel Sachs joined. By 1885, Goldman’s son Henry and another son-in-law, Ludwig Dreyfuss, had entered the business, and the firm took its current name, Goldman Sachs & Co. It pioneered commercial paper for entrepreneurs and joined the New York Stock Exchange in 1896. By 1898, the firm’s capital reached $1.6 million. It opened offices in Boston and Chicago in 1900, San Francisco in 1918, and Philadelphia and St. Louis in 1920.

The firm entered the IPO market in 1906 by taking Sears, Roebuck and Company public, a deal helped by Henry Goldman’s friendship with Sears owner Julius Rosenwald. Other IPOs followed, including General Cigar Company in 1906, F. W. Woolworth Company in 1912, and Continental Can. Goldman Sachs innovated by using the price–earnings ratio—rather than book value—to value companies, which let it raise funds for retailers and firms with few hard assets. In 1912, Henry S. Bowers became the first non-family partner. In 1917, Henry Goldman resigned under pressure from partners over his pro-German stance. The Sachs family then controlled the firm until Waddill Catchings joined in 1918; by 1928, he held the largest single stake. In 1919, the firm acquired a major interest in Merck & Co., and in 1922, a major interest in General Foods. On December 4, 1928, it launched the Goldman Sachs Trading Corp., a closed-end fund that failed during the 1929 Wall Street Crash amid accusations of share price manipulation and insider trading.

**1930–1979**

In 1930, during the Great Depression, the firm ousted Catchings, and Sidney Weinberg became senior partner. Weinberg shifted focus from trading to investment banking, helping restore the firm’s reputation. Under his leadership, Goldman Sachs was the lead advisor on Ford Motor Company’s $657 million IPO in 1956 and Sears Roebuck’s $350 million debenture offering in 1958. He also started an investment research division and a municipal bond department, and the firm became an early innovator in risk arbitrage.

In the 1950s, Gus Levy joined as a securities trader, and two factions—one from investment banking, one from trading—vied for power. Levy pioneered block trading, and the firm established this trend under him. In 1956, the firm formed an investment banking division to shift focus away from Weinberg. In 1957, headquarters moved to 20 Broad Street, New York City. In 1969, Levy succeeded Weinberg as senior partner and rebuilt the trading franchise. He is credited with the firm’s philosophy of being “long-term greedy,” meaning short-term losses are acceptable as long as money is made over the long term. Partners reinvested nearly all earnings in the firm. Weinberg remained a senior partner until his death in July 1969.

Another crisis hit in 1970 when Penn Central Transportation Company went bankrupt with over $80 million in commercial paper outstanding, most issued through Goldman Sachs. The bankruptcy led to lawsuits, including from the SEC, threatening the firm’s partnership capital, survival, and reputation. This event led to credit ratings for all commercial paper issuers. Under partner Stanley R. Miller, the firm opened its first international office in London in 1970, and created a private wealth management division and a fixed income division in 1972. In 1974, it pioneered the “white knight” strategy while defending Electric Storage Battery against a hostile takeover bid from International Nickel and Morgan Stanley. John Weinberg, Sidney’s son, and John C. Whitehead then assumed leadership.