ゴールドマンの卒業生達 / Goldman's alumni

Goldman Sachs stars lose their luster amid crisis [Reuters](Jan 23, 2009)

John Thain, Bank of America's just ousted head of investment banking, securities and wealth management, is only the latest alumnus from Wall Street powerhouse Goldman Sachs to fall abruptly from grace as the legendary bank loses its aura of invincibility.

Thain -- the former chief operating officer at Merrill Lynch -- masterminded that bank's sale to Bank of America Corp (BAC.N). But he was forced to leave BofA under the shadow of a $15.31 billion fourth-quarter loss at Merrill, as well as allegations he was a lavish spender.

Thain was among the many former executives from what once was Wall Street's most profitable investment bank who went on to other top companies, as well as the upper echelons of government.

Once they were the brightest stars in the investment universe, but Goldman alumni -- including Thain, former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and former Citigroup Chairman Robert Rubin -- look much less brilliant now.

Thain has made the biggest headlines lately. Along with a report that he spent $1.2 million redecorating his office shortly after joining Merrill Lynch in December 2007, his reputation was tarnished even more by a request for a bonus -- after Merrill racked up more than $20 billion in writedowns.

When he joined BofA, Thain brought on at least one other highly paid Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) executive -- Thomas Montag, who was paid a bonus of $39.4 million plus a $600,000 salary -- and other staff, such as former chief risk officer Noel Donohoe.

Yet they did little to reverse the crisis at the firm, although their defenders say turning around Merrill, loaded up on risk as it was under its former management, might have been too much for anyone.

Beyond Merrill, former Goldman Chief Executive Henry Paulson's reign as U.S. Treasury Secretary came to an end this month, overshadowed by increasing criticism of his expensive efforts to revive the U.S. economy.

And earlier this month, former Goldman executive and Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin left his post as senior counselor at Citigroup Inc (C.N) after coming under fire for his performance at the giant bank.

The list of Goldman executives whose names have lost their luster extends to Robert Steel, former Goldman vice chairman, who was parachuted into Wachovia Bank to save it and wound up selling it to Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N), and Neel Kashkari, the Goldman wunderkind, who at 35 was named by Paulson to manage the government's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program -- an increasingly unpopular bailout.

"The firm's reputation has taken some hits," said NAB Research's Bush.

GOLDMAN REPRICED

Current Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein may have hoped he could rely on the bank's reputation as the financial crisis spun into a global recession. But that status looks increasingly tenuous now and Goldman Sachs' share price fell 61 percent last year.

Not that things have been easy for those who stayed behind. Last month, the firm posted its first quarterly loss since going public and was forced to raise more than $20 billion in capital.

And Goldman became a bank holding company regulated by the Federal Reserve in September after Merrill Lynch's sale to Bank of America and Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy left the markets reeling.

Altogether during the fourth quarter, the bank was forced to seek $21 billion in capital from the U.S. Treasury, public investors and Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N).

To be fair, Goldman and its former stars are not the only victims of a crisis that has overwhelmed many top bankers.

In a sense, the inability of executives such as Steel and Thain to keep struggling banks independent, or the difficulties of Paulson and Kashkari in managing the sprawling TARP bailout simply triggered a repricing of Goldman's talent -- much as many other once prized assets across Wall Street have had to be repriced.

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Goldman Sachsのスター達は危機の中で栄光を失う

投資銀行、証券、資産運用のヘッドからちょうど先日失脚したBank of AmericaのJohn Thainは、ウォールストリートの最強チームGoldman Sachsの最も最近のOBであり、その伝説的な銀行が無敵のオーラを失うように唐突に挫折した。
Merrill Lynchの元COOのThainは、Bank of Americaへの銀行売却を立案した。しかし、Merrillの第四四半期の153.1億ドルの損失により、また浪費家であるという申し立てにより、BofAを去らざるを得なくなった。
Thainは、他企業のトップや政府の上層部に移っていったかつてウォールストリートで最も高い収益性をほこる投資銀行の元幹部たちの一人である。
かつて、投資分野で彼らは最も輝かしいスターだった。しかし、Thain、元財務長官Hank Paulson、そして元Citigroup会長のRobert Rubinを含むGoldmanの卒業生たちは、今は輝いていないように見える。
Thainは最近で最大のニュースを作った。報告によると、彼は2007年12月にMerrill Lynchに入社してすぐ、彼のオフィスを120万ドル費やして改装した。さらにはMerrillが200億ドル以上の評価損を被った後にボーナスの要求をしたことで、彼の評判は落ちた。
彼がBofAに加わったとき、Thainは少なくともThomas Motag（彼は60万ドルの給料に加え3900万ドルのボーナスを支払われている）やNoel Donohoe（元CRO）といった高給取りのGoldman Sachsの幹部を引き抜いた。
しかしながら、彼らの擁護者がMerrillは好転したと言ったとしても、彼らはその企業において危機を覆すことをほとんどしなかった。Merrillは前経営者の下で過剰にリスクが積みあがっていた。
元GoldmanのCEO、Henry Paulsonの財務長官としての在位期間は、彼のアメリカ経済を復活させるための高くつく取り組みへの批判が増加した今月で終わった。
そして今月始め、元GoldmanのCEOであり元財務長官のRobert Rubinが、その巨大銀行における彼の成果への非難を受け、Citigroupの上級相談役の地位から離れた。
Goldmanの幹部たちの名前は栄光を失い、それは元Goldman福会長のRobert Steelに及んだ。彼はWachovia銀行に天下りし、そしてWells Fargoにそれを売却した。Goldmanの神童Neel Kashkariは、35歳でPaulsonに政府の7000億ドルのTARP（評判の良くない救済）の管理に任命された。
「その企業の評判は痛手を負った」
NAB ResearchのBushは言った。

GOLDMAN REPRICED

現CEOのLloyd Blankfeinは、金融危機から世界的景気後退に突入するなかで、その銀行の評判に頼ることが出来たらと思っているかもしれない。しかし、今はその地位はますます弱く見え、またGoldman Sachsの株価は昨年61%下落した。
彼らにとって残留することは簡単ではない。先月、上場来初の四半期損失を計上し、200億ドル以上の資金を調達しなければならなくなった。
そして、Merrill LynchのBofAへの売却やLehman Brothersの破綻後の9月、Goldmanは連邦準備制度理事会に規制される銀行持ち株会社になった。
第四四半期全体で、その銀行は米財務省、一般投資家およびBerkshire HahawayのWarren Buffettより210億ドルの資金を求めざるを得なかった。
とは言うものの、Goldmanとその元スターたちは、多くのトップバンカーを圧倒した危機のただひとつの犠牲ではない。
ある意味で、SteelやThainような銀行の独立性を保とうともがいた幹部の無力さや、ばら撒かれたTARPの管理にけるPaulsonとKashkariの問題は、簡単にGoldmanの才能の再評価を引き起こす。

ゴールドマンの卒業生達が無能だったのか？
仮にそうだとしたら、そんな人たちがいた会社が最強であり続けられたか？
多数の事象が混ざり合って起きた問題を全て目立つところに集約して片付けようというのはいただけない。
また、そんな数人がそこまで影響を及ぼすのだとしたら、アンバランスなアメリカのシステム自体の問題もあると思うが。

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Were the Goldman's alumni incompetent?
If so, the company which had such members would have been keeping a position of powerhouse?
It's not good to focus on the outstanding things to settle the problem caused by mixing of many events.
And if such a few people could be influencial, I think there is also probrem about the American imbalanced system.