Word: blankfein
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...anyone shoulders the "blame" for Goldman's golden performance, it is Blankfein. Self-deprecating and seemingly unassuming, the former gold salesman has been ruthlessly ambitious for his firm and its continued success. "He takes it very personally when people act against the firm or show disloyalty," says a former Goldman executive. (See the worst business deals...
...foremost risk arbitrageurs - first Gus Levy and later Robert Rubin - with the investment-banker pedigree of former senior partners, including Sidney Weinberg, John Weinberg, John Whitehead, Stephen Friedman and Paulson. "We would never let our reputation as the key M&A adviser ebb in favor of being a principal," Blankfein says. "We're very self-conscious that our franchise hinges on our client relationships and the business that those relationships generate...
...derivative-driven innovations and massive leverage, Blankfein is the firm's chief advocate for taking risks but also its chief risk watchdog. He has a far different perspective from that of most of the previous Goldman bosses. In December 2006, Viniar led a meeting of senior Goldman executives to examine ongoing daily losses in the firm's mortgage portfolio. Goldman had already underwritten and sold billions of dollars' worth of mortgage-backed securities, much of it labeled investment grade by ratings agencies. It was, in fact, junk. But Goldman realized earlier than most that rot was setting in and famously...
...Blankfein's deftness under pressure impressed his partners. "He is a totally independent-minded guy," says another senior Goldman official. "Ten years ago, I think most people would have said that it is highly unlikely that Lloyd would be CEO and highly unlikely that he would succeed. But he has done both, and it seems like a dream in this environment ... It's a bit of a miracle. It was unpredicted...
...Hood Then again, Blankfein is different. Born into modest circumstances in the South Bronx, he moved with his family to the East New York section of Brooklyn "in search of a better life," Blankfein says, when he was 3. The family lived in the Linden Houses, a complex of 19 buildings completed in 1957 that contained 1,590 apartments. After losing his job driving a truck, Blankfein's father took a night job sorting mail at the post office - "which in our neck of the woods was considered to be a very good job, because you couldn't lose...