Goldman Sachs's defining moves.
The defining strategic moves at Goldman Sachs — each one explained and grounded in the record.
The Adjacency Expansion · Growth & Expansion
Goldman Sachs Spent a Decade Learning One Lesson: It Doesn't Know How to Lose Money to Strangers.
Goldman piled up $3 billion in consumer-banking losses by 2023, bought GreenSky for $2.24B near the top and sold it inside two years. The flop wasn't the savings account - that stayed profitable. It was owning the credit risk.
8 min
The Fall · Decision Forks
Goldman Built a Consumer Bank to Win the Crowd. The Crowd Wasn't the Problem.
Goldman's Marcus detour lost more than $4 billion and ended with Goldman handing Apple Card and its $20B+ portfolio to Chase. The part that worked — deposits — got swamped by two partnerships it never had the infrastructure to carry.
7 min
The Fall · The Fall
Goldman Sachs Didn't Collapse. It Tried to Become a Normal Bank — and Bled $3.8 Billion Finding Out Why It Shouldn't.
The 'Goldman collapsed' headlines are wrong: in 2024 it posted record net revenues of $53.51 billion and a 77% EPS surge. The real fall was quieter — a consumer-banking dream that lost roughly $3.8 billion before the firm retreated, partner by partner, from the everyman it spent a decade chasing.
8 min
The Counterfactual · Decision Forks
Goldman Sachs Tried to Bank Everyone. It Forgot It Was Built to Bank No One.
Goldman spent seven years chasing the consumer. By 2023 it was unwinding the whole thing — and one segment alone had bled more than $3 billion since the start of 2020. The retreat wasn't a pivot. It was a confession.
8 min
The Crisis Response · Crisis Response
Goldman Blamed Two Rogue Bankers for 1MDB. Every Regulator Said the Rot Ran Deeper.
For five years Goldman insisted two bankers had deceived the firm on 1MDB. Then in October 2020 it admitted 'institutional failures' and signed the largest FCPA settlement in history — $2.9 billion. The defense was always a legal posture, not a fact.
8 min