The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, with regional offices in many international financial centers.[1] Goldman Sachs is one of the largest investment banks in the world by revenue[2] and is ranked 32nd on the Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.[3] In the Forbes Global 2000 of 2025, Goldman Sachs ranked 20th.[4] It is considered a systemically important financial institution by the Financial Stability Board.
Goldman Sachs offers services in investment banking (advisory for mergers and acquisitions and restructuring), securities underwriting, prime brokerage, asset management, and wealth management. It is a market maker for many types of financial products and provides clearing and custodian bank services. It operates private-equity funds and hedge funds. It structures complex and tailor-made financial products. It also owns Goldman Sachs Bank USA, a direct bank. It trades both on behalf of its clients (flow trading) and for its own account (proprietary trading). The company invests in and arranges financing for startups, and in many cases gets additional business as bookrunner when the companies launch initial public offerings.[5]
History
Founding and establishment
In 1869, Goldman Sachs was founded by Marcus Goldman in New York City in a one-room basement office next to a coal chute.[6][7][8] In 1882, Goldman's son-in-law Samuel Sachs joined the firm.[9][10] In 1885, Goldman's son, Henry Goldman, and his son-in-law, Ludwig Dreyfuss, joined the business and the firm adopted its present name, Goldman Sachs & Co.[11]
List of senior partners and CEOs
- 1) Marcus Goldman (1869–1893)
- 2) Samuel Sachs and Henry Goldman (1893–1914)
- 3) Henry Goldman (1914–1917)
- 4) Harry Sachs (1917–1921)
- 5) Waddill Catchings (1921–1930)
- 6) Sidney Weinberg (1930–1969)
- 7) Gus Levy (1969–1976)
- 8) John L. Weinberg and John C. Whitehead (1976–1984)
- 9) John L. Weinberg (1984–1990)
- 10) Robert Rubin and Stephen Friedman (1990–1992)
- 11) Stephen Friedman (1992–1994)
- 12) Jon Corzine (1994–1998)
Financial performance
Note: Financial data in billions of US dollars and employee data in thousands. The data is sourced from the company's SEC Form 10-K from 2000 to 2025. [61]
Ownership
The 10 largest shareholders of Goldman Sachs as of December 2025 were:[62]
- The Vanguard Group (9.78%)
- BlackRock (7.84%)
- State Street Corporation (6.59%)
- JPMorgan Chase (2.65%)
- Morgan Stanley (2.51%)
- Fisher Asset Management (2.28%)
- Geode Capital Management
Controversies
Goldman Sachs has been embroiled in numerous controversies since its founding. The bank has faced particular criticism for its role in the 2008 global financial crisis and, more recently, in the 1MDB scandal in Malaysia.[63][64]
See also
- Goldman Sachs Foundation—philanthropic initiatives of the company
- List of former employees of Goldman Sachs
External links
- Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine:
References
- The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. 2025 Annual Report Form 10-K U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, February 25, 2026, retrieved March 8, 2026^
- League Tables – Investment Banking Review – FT.com markets.ft.com, retrieved 2025-12-08^
- Fortune 500 Companies: Goldman Sachs