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More than $2billion was wiped off the market value of Goldman Sachs yesterday after one of its executive traders launched a public attack on the company's 'toxic' culture.
Greg Smith accused the company of putting money before its clients as he announced his resignation in an open letter in the New York Times on Wednesday.
He blamed two of its top bosses - CEO Lloyd Blankfein and President Gary Cohn - for the 'decline in the firm’s moral fiber'.
It comes after Smith, an executive director, was widely praised for his moral courage after quitting his £3million-a-year job in despair at the company's money-grabbing ethics.
But as the compliments came flooding in from friends and colleagues, there was an element inside the company who claimed he actually left because he was disgruntled about not getting a promotion.
He was also widely mocked for including his table tennis achievements in the letter.
He said: 'My proudest moments in life — getting a full scholarship to go from South Africa to Stanford University, being selected as a Rhodes Scholar national finalist, winning a bronze medal for table tennis at the Maccabiah Games in Israel, known as the Jewish Olympics — have all come through hard work, with no shortcuts.'
He writes: 'It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off.
'Over the last 12 months I have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as "muppets", sometimes over internal e-mail.'
And, he added, this environment is not conducive to modelling employees interested in integrity rather than their bonus.
He said: 'You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the junior analyst sitting quietly in the corner of the room hearing about "muppets," "ripping eyeballs out" and "getting paid" doesn’t exactly turn into a model citizen.'
He points the finger directly at CEO Lloyd C. Blankfein and the president Gary D. Cohn who 'lost hold of the firm’s culture on their watch'.
He adds: 'I truly believe that this decline in the firm’s moral fiber represents the single most serious threat to its long-run survival.'
But Smith's cutting words garnered support from commentators, who said they hinted at a larger problem.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...culture.html?ITO=socialnet-twitter-mailonline
Greg Smith accused the company of putting money before its clients as he announced his resignation in an open letter in the New York Times on Wednesday.
He blamed two of its top bosses - CEO Lloyd Blankfein and President Gary Cohn - for the 'decline in the firm’s moral fiber'.
It comes after Smith, an executive director, was widely praised for his moral courage after quitting his £3million-a-year job in despair at the company's money-grabbing ethics.
But as the compliments came flooding in from friends and colleagues, there was an element inside the company who claimed he actually left because he was disgruntled about not getting a promotion.
He was also widely mocked for including his table tennis achievements in the letter.
He said: 'My proudest moments in life — getting a full scholarship to go from South Africa to Stanford University, being selected as a Rhodes Scholar national finalist, winning a bronze medal for table tennis at the Maccabiah Games in Israel, known as the Jewish Olympics — have all come through hard work, with no shortcuts.'
He writes: 'It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off.
'Over the last 12 months I have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as "muppets", sometimes over internal e-mail.'
And, he added, this environment is not conducive to modelling employees interested in integrity rather than their bonus.
He said: 'You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the junior analyst sitting quietly in the corner of the room hearing about "muppets," "ripping eyeballs out" and "getting paid" doesn’t exactly turn into a model citizen.'
He points the finger directly at CEO Lloyd C. Blankfein and the president Gary D. Cohn who 'lost hold of the firm’s culture on their watch'.
He adds: 'I truly believe that this decline in the firm’s moral fiber represents the single most serious threat to its long-run survival.'
But Smith's cutting words garnered support from commentators, who said they hinted at a larger problem.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...culture.html?ITO=socialnet-twitter-mailonline
