Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., also known as Goldman Sachs was founded in 1869 and is one of the world's largest global investment banks. Goldman Sachs acts as a financial advisor to some of the most important companies and governments in the world. It is a primary dealer in the U.S. Treasury securities market.

Goldman Sachs was founded in 1869 by Marcus Goldman. The company made a name for itself innovating the use of commercial paper for entrepreneurs and was invited to join the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 1896. Shortly after joining the New York Stock Exchange Goldman's son-in-law Samuel Sachs joined the firm which prompted the name change to Goldman Sachs.

“Goldman Sachs played a huge part in establishing the Initial Public Offering market. It managed one of the largest IPO's to date, Sears, Roebuck and Company in 1906.” In 1930, under the leadership of Sidney Weinberg, the new Senior Partner he shifted Goldman's focus away from Trading and towards Investment Banking and Investment Research. Goldman also was lead advisor on the Ford Motor Company's IPO in 1956, which at the time was a major deal on Wall Street.

During Weinberg's time, he also started an Investment Research division and a Municipal Bond department. It also was at this time that the firm became an early innovator in Risk Arbitrage. Risk Arbitage, or sometimes called merger arbitrage, is an investment or trading strategy often associated with hedge funds. Hedge Funds playing a big deal in today’s market.

In 1986, the firm formed Goldman Sachs Asset Management, which manages the majority of its mutual funds and hedge funds today. Also in 1986, the firm underwrote the IPO of Microsoft, advised General Electric on its acquisition of RCA and joined the London and Tokyo stock exchanges.

1986 would also be the year that Goldman became the first United States bank to rank in the top 10 of Mergers and Acquisitions