COMPANIES Part of the “secret sauce” of Goldman Sachs’ success is an unusually high rate of ownership in the bank’s shares by the firm’s 300-plus partners. The internal stock ownership rate – which Goldman does not disclose but Bloomberg pegs at 6 per cent – is a carryover from the firm’s days as a privately held partnership.
The goal of the programme, and it has been largely successful in Goldman’s 10 years as a public company, is to align closely the partners’ interests with those of the firm. It is a goal shared by Goldman’s competitors although, as Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns demonstrated, significant levels of ownership among employees and executives is no guarantee of success.
