Clients

In 2000, Goldman Sachs opens an office in Salt Lake City, Utah. The office is initially staffed to provide service and technology support for the firm’s newly launched online platform for private wealth clients, GS.com. In the ensuing decades, the office grows and diversifies to become one of the firm’s largest and strategically important locations and one of the largest private employers in Salt Lake City.

Goldman Sachs acts as book running manager of the initial public offering for software company Microsoft Corporation. Generating US$61 million for Microsoft, it is dubbed by many analysts “the IPO of the year” in 1986.

On February 4, 2000, Britain’s Vodafone AirTouch PLC acquires Mannesmann AG in a historic deal that will reshape the mobile telecom marketplace.

Fischer Black and Robert Litterman revolutionize portfolio management in 1990 with the creation of the Black-Litterman Global Asset Allocation Model – quickly adopted for optimal portfolio allocation across international equity, fixed income and currency markets.

In 1986, Goldman Sachs advises Standard Chartered Bank when it is the target of a hostile bid from Lloyds Bank.

Hundreds of ideas are submitted within the firm in the first year of the program designed to spark new initiatives worthy of investment and further development.

In 2014, Goldman Sachs makes a wealth of proprietary insights and analytics available to its institutional clients with the launch of Marquee. With the ability to integrate directly with clients’ own technology platforms via APIs, Marquee offers access to the firm’s market insights, analytics tools, execution capabilities, and data and developer services.

In 2010, Goldman Sachs initiates a comprehensive review of business principles and practices via the newly-formed Business Standards Committee.

At the height of the global financial crisis, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway invests US$5 billion in Goldman Sachs, further strengthening the firm’s capitalization and liquidity in turbulent times.

Sustainability is a key driver of how Goldman Sachs engages with clients and the industry more broadly. By 2019, the firm’s commitment to sustainability is closely integrated across the firm’s activities – whether through raising capital to support sustainable business models, offering powerful environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment solutions, or effectively managing the environmental and social risks of its own operations.

Innovative financing solutions developed by the Urban Investment Group since 2001 help fuel growth in underserved communities.

In December 2005, the firm becomes the largest shareholder in Sanyo Electric Credit, the finance unit of the Japanese conglomerate Sanyo. One month later, the firm invests in Sanyo Electric.

Despite turbulence in Asian markets, China issues US$1 billion in a 1998 sovereign bond offering.

Building on its own leadership in market making and clearing, Goldman Sachs acquires Spear, Leeds & Kellogg in 2000 to become one of the leading market makers of equities and options in the US marketplace.

In 2005, Goldman Sachs invests in Osaka theme park, selling its stake to Comcast NBCUniversal ten years later.

Goldman Sachs makes its mark in London with takeover defense of Thomas Tilling in 1983.

Goldman Sachs helps facilitate Japanese retailer Ito-Yokado’s participation in the Yankee bond market in 1977.

Goldman Sachs becomes one of the first international securities companies permitted to open a banking subsidiary in Japan in 1991.

In 1991, the firm becomes a member of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, signifying its commitment to the German marketplace.

The launch of GS Financial Workbench^SM in 1995 marks the firm’s first significant effort to share some of its internal technologies, including tools, data, and analytics, with institutional clients.

Goldman Sachs is the sole agent of a private placement of JPY600 billion (US$5.35 billion) for Toshiba Corporation in 2017, raising capital Toshiba needs to avoid being delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange at a time when a public listing would be challenging for the beleaguered tech company.

In 1922, the Goldman Sachs partnership transitions to a new entity, Goldman, Sachs & Co., a joint stock association. By 1927, the firm would reconstitute itself as a partnership.

Goldman Sachs acts as a joint global coordinator and joint book runner for the three-pronged initial public offering of Japan Post Holdings, Japan Post Bank, and Japan Post Insurance in the largest IPO of 2015, totaling nearly US$12 billion.

To bring Japanese commercial paper to a skeptical US market in 1971, Goldman Sachs arranges a US bank letter of credit to back up the offering from Mitsui & Co., Ltd., a centuries-old Japanese trading company.

As part of financial reforms instituted during the Great Depression in the United States, the Glass-Steagall Banking Act of 1933 mandates the separation of commercial and investment banking, and the Securities Acts of 1933 and 1934 improve disclosure practices in the offering of securities to investors.

In 2007, Goldman Sachs launches GS SUSTAIN, a global, long-term investment research strategy designed to generate sustainable alpha by integrating analysis of financial strength, strategic positioning, and environmental, social and governance performance.

In 1982, Goldman Sachs establishes a board of international advisors with wide ranging experience in government, diplomacy and multinational business.

The Black-Derman-Toy model for pricing fixed income derivatives is developed at Goldman Sachs in 1986 and used extensively in-house prior to its publication several years later.

Just over a century after Goldman Sachs began dealing in commercial paper, the firm leads a commercial paper issuance for state-owned electric utility Électricité de France in 1974, the first ever in the United States on behalf of a foreign government entity.

In post-unification Germany, Daimler-Benz looks to the international investment community for funding with its historic 1993 listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

As Mexico pursues a program of economic liberalization and modernization, Goldman Sachs serves as advisor and global coordinator in the 1990 privatization of the country’s telephone service provider, Teléfonos de Mexico.

Goldman Sachs serves as joint global coordinator of the first Japan Tobacco global equity offering in 1996, becoming the first non-Japanese company to underwrite shares for Japan’s Ministry of Finance.

In 1988, Goldman Sachs advises UK confectioner Rowntree when it is the target of the largest takeover battle in British corporate history.

Goldman Sachs partners with Kleinwort, Sons & Co. of London in 1897, beginning a joint undertaking in international finance.

When Penn Central, the largest railroad in the country, declares bankruptcy in 1970, liquidity vanishes in the commercial paper market, roiling the market and threatening the very existence of Goldman Sachs, the market leader with nearly 300 other commercial paper-issuing clients.

In 1967, Gus Levy executes a record-breaking block trade of over one million shares of Alcan Aluminum worth more than US$26.5 million.

Goldman Sachs is retained as US advisor in the privatization of the UK government’s remaining interest in British Petroleum Company PLC, the largest sale ever by HM Treasury. When it coincides with the 1987 "Black Monday” stock market crash, Goldman Sachs absorbs the largest loss the firm has ever taken.

In 1985, Goldman Sachs is selected as one of the first six non-Japanese firms to join the Tokyo Stock Exchange, allowing the firm to compete on equal footing in the Pacific Basin with some of Japan's largest banks.

Leading an investment group in partnership with David Rockefeller, Goldman Sachs purchases Rockefeller Center in 1995, paving the way for the firm’s growing involvement in real estate investment.

The firm’s strategic outreach to shareholders helps Mittal Steel secure the EUR26.9 billion acquisition of European steel giant Arcelor in 2006.

2012 marks Goldman Sachs’ first annual Builders + Innovators Summit, a gathering of a select group of up-and-coming US entrepreneurs and seasoned business leaders designed to foster dialogue, idea sharing, and economic progress.

Harry Sachs (Samuel Sachs' brother) becomes partner in 1894 and the firm's first stock exchange member two years later.

After being turned down by other underwriters, Frank Woolworth seeks out Goldman Sachs in 1912 to help finance his company’s rapid expansion, forging a decades-long relationship between the companies.

In 2017, Goldman Sachs advises Amazon.com on the US$13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods as the grocery chain becomes part of the world’s largest online retailer. The firm also provides bridge funding for the acquisition.

In 1986, Goldman Sachs advises the UK government and British Gas on selling shares in the United States of what is, at the time, the largest-ever privatization in the United Kingdom, at £5.6 billion.

The Goldman Sachs Foundation and the International Finance Corporation create the Women Entrepreneurs Opportunity Facility in 2014 to provide much-needed financing to female entrepreneurs around the globe.

Goldman Sachs leads the Conrail IPO in 1987, the largest ever public offering in the United States and an important chapter in the history of American railroads.

In 1996, Goldman Sachs serves as joint global coordinator on the US$13 billion privatization of Deutsche Telekom AG, Europe’s largest telecommunications service provider. It is the largest equity offering to date.

After decades of impassioned debate, the partners of Goldman Sachs vote in 1998 to take the firm public the following year. The firm is among the last large financial institutions to do so.

In 1986, Goldman Sachs accepts a US$500 million investment and limited partnership interest by Sumitomo Bank in order to meet capital requirements.

The formation of the Merchant Banking Division in 1998 reflects the firm’s expanding role in principal investing activities.

In 1924, Goldman Sachs participates in a US$20 million bond offering for Paris-Lyons Mediterranean Railroad Company amid postwar reconstruction in France.

In 1906, Sears, Roebuck and Co. was a burgeoning catalog business in need of capital to finance its robust growth. Goldman Sachs led an initial public offering for Sears that year, the success of which signaled the rise of the consumer/retail sector in the U.S. economy.

Henry Goldman leads the firm’s first IPO in 1906, utilizing the innovative strategy of earnings, rather than solely assets, to attract long-term investment in United Cigar Manufacturers.

Goldman Sachs leads the Ford Motor Company’s US$657 million IPO in 1956, the largest common stock offering to date in the United States. Sidney Weinberg, a long-time friend and informal advisor to the Ford family, becomes one of Ford Motor's first outside directors.

In one of the firm's most important industry innovations, John Whitehead submits a memo to Sidney Weinberg in 1956 outlining the establishment of Wall Street's first marketing arm for investment banking, later known as Investment Banking Services (IBS).

Published in 1973, the Black-Scholes Option Pricing model brings a new quantitative approach to pricing options, helping fuel the growth of derivative investing.

In 1981, Goldman Sachs acquires a client, J. Aron & Company, in a strategic move to extend the firm’s international presence in the commodity and foreign exchange markets.

In 1986, Goldman Sachs joins the International Stock Exchange in London and becomes a primary dealer in UK government securities, cementing the firm's position as a leading participant in the evolving global capital markets.

Goldman Sachs is the lead manager of Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited (IPCL)’s US$85 million 1994 offering of global depositary receipts — the first international offering for an Indian government-owned company.

The Japanese portfolio team within the Global Investment Research Division publishes “Womenomics: Buy the Female Economy” in 1999, launching a multiyear series of reports that cement “Womenomics” as part of the Japanese vernacular and a pillar of the country’s efforts to revive economic growth.

In 2001, Goldman Sachs’ Global Investment Research Division publishes the report, "Build Better Global Economic BRICs," coining the acronym for the four countries that would reshape the world economy– Brazil, Russia, India and China.

In 2016, Goldman Sachs launches Marcus by Goldman Sachs, an online platform offering personal loans and savings accounts to retail clients.