Goldman Sachs profits soar amid Malaysian fund scandal
There is an existential issue about Goldman Sachs: Gasparino
FBN's Charlie Gasparino on the state of the financial sector and the partial government shutdown over border wall funding.
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon made a rare appearance on the company's earnings conference call on Wednesday. As reported by FOX Business, ahead of the call, there is a renewed push to rebuild the firm's image with investors amid persistent questions over its business model and a Malaysian investment scandal that has rocked the firm.
Solomon did his part, apologizing for the incident which is being probed by investigators. "It's very clear that the people of Malaysia were defrauded by many individuals, including the highest members of the prior government. Tim Leissner was a partner at our firm, by his own admission, was one of those people. For Leissner's role in that fraud, we apologize to the Malaysian people" said Solomon speaking to investors.
The U.S. Department of Justice and the SEC are investigating whether Goldman properly informed investors about the risks associated with the fund; Goldman has been accused of embezzling and laundering billions of dollars. Goldman maintains it has done nothing wrong.
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| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GS | THE GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC. | 581.71 | -14.58 | -2.45% |
Along with his remarks, the firm delivered a banner quarter revealing that fourth-quarter profit of of $6.04 per share, on revenue of $8.08 billion, exceeding analysts estimates by a wide margin. Shares popped on the news seeing the biggest jump since March 2009 lifting the overall financials.
Goldman has topped profit and revenue expectations for seven straight quarters. It is the first quarter of results for David Solomon, who took over as Goldman's chief executive Oct. 1.
A year ago, Goldman Sachs posted a $1.93 billion loss in the fourth quarter as the investment bank had to record more than $4 billion in charges related to the new tax law.
In the year-ago period, excluding the one-time charges, the bank earned $5.68 a share, beating analysts' estimates.
Third-quarter earnings per share came in at $6.28 on revenue of $8.65 billion.