Next Goldman CEO Expected From Its Ranks
Tuesday May 30, 2:31 pm ET
By Vinnee Tong, AP Business Writer
Next Goldman Sachs CEO Expected to Come From Its Own Ranks
NEW YORK (AP) -- Goldman Sachs is widely expected to pluck its next chief executive from within, and the most likely candidate is said to be its president and chief operating officer, Lloyd Blankfein.
"I would be shocked if it wasn't an internal candidate, and I would be slightly less shocked if it wasn't Lloyd Blankfein," said Jeffery Harte, an analyst at Sandler O'Neill & Partners LP. Harte said the ascension of Blankfein would mean very little change ahead for the storied Wall Street investment bank.
Goldman's current chairman and CEO, Henry M. Paulson, was nominated Tuesday by President Bush to replace John Snow as treasury secretary.
A spokesman for the Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Peter Rose, declined to say whether the board of directors was meeting Tuesday or how soon an announcement of a successsor to Paulson may be made.
"The decision on who succeeds Hank as CEO is up to the Goldman Sachs board of directors," he said. "It's inappropriate and premature to comment. However, we have a very deep bench of senior management, all of whom have worked together as colleagues for decades."
Blankfein has been president since January 2004 and has been a director since April 2003. Prior to that, he was a vice chairman overseeing the Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities Division and the Equities Division.
Two other big Wall Street houses, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co., have also had new chief executives start within the last year.
At Morgan Stanley, John Mack returned after a hiatus to take the top post as its board of directors forced out Philip Purcell. Mack was elected to the top post on June 30 of last year. At JPMorgan Chase, James Dimon was promoted to be CEO in December after serving as president and chief operating officer.
Under Paulson, Goldman has arguably become the premier investment banking company on Wall Street. Its huge successes have included mergers, acquisitions and underwriting; strong earnings in fixed income and commodities trading and a steady increase in the assets it has under management.
In the first quarter, the company's profits surged 62 percent to$2.45 billion on record revenues of $10.34 billion. That was on top of record earnings of $5.61 billion on revenues of $24.78 billion in 2005.
Goldman stock was down $2.04 at $150.90 in mid-afternoon trading. It has ranged between $94.75 and $169.31 over the past 52 weeks. |
