Goldman Sachs: Not The Sultans Of Spin

WELL, Goldman managed to survive this week, just about, but we have to question whether Lucas van Praag, Goldman’s global head of media relations and a partner at the firm, is doing very well.

Ok, he is firing off letters to all and sundry, and particularly the sundry at Forbes whose article by ‘Dr Doom’, otherwise known as Nouriel Roubini, was less than wholly supportive of the view that Goldman Sach’s is the best of all possible banks in the best of all possible worlds, but that’s office boy stuff.

The New York Times reported last night that Jon Winkelried, Goldman Sachs’s co-president and co-chief operating officer, is trying to sell two lots on Nantucket for $55 million.

Those of us with a healthy cynicism may wonder why a top executive in a bank which loudly claims that it has no financial problems, in a country where property deals have gone off the edge of the cliff, should suddenly feel that he needs a lot of cash so urgently that he is prepared to sell in a crashing market.

I’m sure that there is a perfectly proper reason for wanting $55 million in a hurry, but it’s the sort of potential PR disaster that Lucas van Praag is paid to prevent.

Of course it may be that Praag’s mindset hasn’t quite caught up yet with the realisation that Goldman is just another bank…

- Chenier

Anorak

Posted: 12th, October 2008 | In: Anorak In New York, Money | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0