Goldman Sachs Co

Goldman Sachs' Ties With Maxwell Probed: The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into Goldman Sachs & Co.'s dealings with the late Robert Maxwell, sources said. The SEC declined to confirm or deny the investigation, while Goldman officials were not available for comment. Separately, Britain's High Court named three partners from the accounting firm Price Waterhouse as administrators for Maxwell Communication Corp.

Facing persistent criticism of its huge pay packages, investment banking powerhouse Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said Thursday that it would buck long-standing Wall Street tradition and pay no year-end cash bonuses to 30 top executives. Instead, the firm will give those employees bonuses made up entirely of Goldman Sachs stock and will bar them from selling the shares for five years. The company also said it would give shareholders a formal voice regarding executive pay. By implementing a number of compensation reforms that Wall Street critics have long championed, Goldman is acting to discourage its employees from taking excessive financial risks.

A former Goldman Sachs & Co. economist pleaded guilty to fielding an insider bond tip that gave the firm an eight-minute edge on the market and nearly $4 million in tainted profit. John Youngdahl, 44, of Summit, N.J., will spend about three years in prison if a federal judge accepts terms of a plea deal reached with the government. He would also pay $240,000 to settle related charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission if the judge approves the settlement. From Associated Press

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York plans to get along without the help of bond giant Pimco or Goldman Sachs Group as the central bank continues its massive purchases of mortgage-backed securities. The New York Fed on Monday said it had "streamlined" its 8-month-old, $1.25-trillion program to buy mortgage bonds from four investment managers to two. Saying the changes were "not performance related," the bank said it was retaining Wellington Management Co. and BlackRock Inc. Newport Beach-based Pacific Investment Management Co. and Goldman Sachs Asset Management will exit.

Goldman Sachs & Co. has agreed to give back $9.5 million of $13.2 million that WorldCom Inc. paid for financial advice in the weeks before the telecommunications company's huge bankruptcy filing. WorldCom hired Goldman in May 2002 to help find new investors, advise on possible mergers with other telecom firms, arrange bankruptcy financing and explore the possible sale of assets and businesses, according to papers filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.

As expected, partners in Goldman Sachs & Co., Wall Street's last large private partnership, voted overwhelmingly Monday to sell at least 10% of the firm to the public to raise more than $2 billion. The decision marks the end of an era for the secretive, 130-year-old investment bank, since it will have to give up some control in exchange for the cash it needs to keep pace with competitors, including Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley.

Goldman Sachs & Co. has reduced Walt Disney Co.'s earnings forecast and taken the entertainment company off its recommended list of stocks amid concerns of a softening advertising market. Goldman media analyst Richard Simon cut his projections for Disney's 2002 earnings from 95 cents a share to 84 cents. Simon also lowered his rating of Disney to only a "market out-performer."

There are no winners in the collapse of Robert Maxwell's publishing empire, unless you count the bankruptcy lawyers and accountants who are earning million-dollar fees for putting the rubble in order.

Upjohn Co., a widely rumored takeover target, has retained investment banker Goldman, Sachs & Co. as an adviser, Wall Street stock traders said Wednesday, sparking a sharp rise in the drug company's stock. Goldman Sachs, which has a policy of not commenting on client matters, declined to do so when asked about Upjohn. A spokesman for Upjohn Co., headquartered in Kalamazoo, Mich.

* A New York appeals court cleared the way for Goldman, Sachs & Co. to face trial on charges that it mishandled the initial public offering of EToys Inc., lawyers for the defunct retailer said. * Google Inc. named 29 additional underwriters to manage its initial public offering of as much as $2.7 billion of Class A common stock, including Allen & Co., Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Goldman Sachs Group's famously gold-plated bonuses are coming with a little something extra this year: unwanted scrutiny from the government. Just a few weeks after reporting record quarterly profit and a bonus kitty of more than $11 billion, Goldman revealed in a government filing that "various governmental agencies" were looking into how the firm gave out compensation. The company declined to reveal Wednesday which agencies were examining its pay practices and wouldn't provide details.

Odds are that your 401(k) account isn't nearly back to where it was before the markets collapsed last fall. But for Goldman Sachs Group shareholders -- including many of the firm's employees -- it's now as if the meltdown never even happened. With the banking titan's report this week of record second-quarter earnings, its stock rose above $150 a share, closing Friday at $156.84. That recouped the last of its losses after the demise of Lehman Bros. on Sept.

Burnishing its reputation as Wall Street's premier banking firm, Goldman Sachs Group reported a record quarterly profit that topped expectations and underscored the speed with which the firm has rebounded from last year's financial crisis. Smart stock trades and reduced competition from rivals contributed to the $3.4 billion in earnings. Critics, however, said a nation still mired in recession could take little comfort in Goldman's rapid turnaround.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. on Tuesday reported its first quarterly loss since it went public in 1999, losing $2.29 billion during its fiscal fourth quarter, but investors seemed unfazed and sent its shares up 14.4%. The loss proves the turmoil in the financial markets has tripped up even the best-run financial institutions. The New York-based bank has long been considered the premier investment bank on Wall Street, and in recent quarters the sturdiest amid the turmoil. Goldman lost $4.

Goldman, Sachs & Co. urged some of its big clients to place investment bets against California bonds this year despite having collected millions of dollars in fees to help the state sell some of those same bonds. The giant investment firm did not inform the office of California Treasurer Bill Lockyer that it was proposing a way for investment clients to profit from California's deepening financial misery.

Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs Group Inc. got a much-needed seal of approval Tuesday from billionaire investor Warren E. Buffett. Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agreed to invest $5 billion in the investment bank via a purchase of preferred stock, Goldman announced after the stock market closed. Berkshire also will get warrants to buy about 10% of Goldman's common stock at a discount price of $5 billion. Goldman said it also would raise $2.5 billion in a public offering of common shares.

Goldman, Sachs & Co. agreed to pay as much as $48.5 million to settle a lawsuit in which California alleged that wrongdoing by the securities firm left a state agency responsible for $142 million in bonds issued by a now-bankrupt nonprofit company, the state said. Goldman admitted no wrongdoing.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. gave to the market with one hand Tuesday -- and took away with the other. The investment banking titan comforted investors early on by reporting much-better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter earnings. That helped ease concerns about the financial sector that were aggravated last week by Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc.'s warning of a huge loss. But later in the day a team of Goldman analysts helped spark another sell-off in financial shares with a prediction that commercial banks might have to raise $65 billion more in capital this year to rebuild their balance sheets amid the ongoing stream of credit-related write-downs.

A former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. investment banking associate who helped mastermind a $6.7-million insider trading ring was sentenced Thursday to almost five years in prison for misusing information from an analyst, a juror and a magazine. Eugene Plotkin, who worked in the fixed-income research division of Goldman, the largest U.S. securities firm by market value, is one of two men who orchestrated a scheme to trade on secret tips from a Merrill Lynch & Co.