Opinion: How Goldman Sachs exposed its jaw to a massive PR blow from The New York Times' op-ed page
The investment banking giant showed reporters little respect for years, and bringing on a new communications chief came a little too late
Related Moves
Known for his high 'emotional quotient,' Jason Lahita rides solo, again, as a PR guru; this time, he's selective and looking for a few good non-robots
The Los Angeles RIA PR pro is launching a company called StreetCred from a backyard outbuilding with a mindset of finding clients who click with him
September 16, 2020 at 6:00 PM
Farther struts its startup magic and shows why a $375-million RIA can be worth $50 million -- by getting four advisors to bring books of business just to be part of the enterprise
The San Francisco firm claimed its software was at another level and now advisors are betting careers on it, though not of the UHNW variety imagined
November 2, 2022 at 3:27 AM
Goldman Sachs fought the squid, but the squid won as CEO David Solomon puts the United Capital-Ayco RIA back under the control of house asset managers
Solomon acknowledges he's largely reunifying wealth management and asset management to regain synergies after trying to give the in-house RIA agency.
November 1, 2022 at 4:03 AM
Goldman Sachs RIA custodian delayed indefinitely, as 'technical details' bedevil launch date
The clock is ticking on the New York City investment bank's strategic imperative to strike while TD Ameritrade and Schwab merge, but Goldman may be facing similar obstacles combining with Folio Institutional.
March 16, 2022 at 2:47 AM
See more related moves
FiComm Partners
Marketing & Public Relations
Top Executive: Megan Carpenter, CEO
Sondra Harris PR
In this astute analysis, Jason reminds us of the importance—and extreme fragility—of a company’s reputation. Greg Smith’s NY Times op-ed piece presented Goldman with an immediate loss of more than $2 billion in value and an avalanche of negative press. As Warren Buffet said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it.” We underestimate the power of the court of public opinion to our detriment.
Gordon G. Andrew
The veracity of Mr. Smith’s opinion notwithstanding, is it ever appropriate for a publication as respected as The New York Times to provide a platform for one disgruntled employee? In publishing Mr. Smith’s description of Goldman’s shortcomings, the The New York Times supplied an inherent level of credibility to Mr. Smith’s accusations.
If The New York Times had been genuinely interested in giving its readers a balanced perspective, it would have provided Goldman Sachs with an equal editorial platform to present the firm’s response – ideally in the same issue and on the same page as Mr. Smith’s OpEd piece. Perhaps bush-wacking Goldman was part of the newspaper’s strategy…to generate buzz, or as you suggest, as payback for Goldman’s history of arrogance with the media.
In its decision to print Mr. Smith’s largely unsubstantiated viewpoint, The New York Times may have revealed more about its own integrity than that of Goldman Sachs.
