RIABiz

News, Vision & Voice for the Advisory Community

RIABiz

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

Author Guest Columnist Jason Lahita March 19, 2012 at 4:37 PM
2 Comments
no description available
Jason Lahita: Would [The New York Times] have published [the op-ed] four years ago? I doubt it.

Jason Lahita

|

Greg Smith


Sondra Harris PR

Sondra Harris PR

March 19, 2012 — 9:16 PM

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

Gordon G. Andrew

March 22, 2012 — 5:13 PM

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.


Related Moves

September 16, 2020 at 6:00 PM

RIAs keep Goldman Sachs' hopes alive its RIA custody unit will find legs as $55-billion New Edge signs on and Goldman fills vacated No. 2 custody spot

Predictions are aging badly that Goldman Sachs Advisor Solutions might get nixed as big-pipeline RIAs dial it in, and Jeremy Eisenstein comes off the executive bench to be Adam Siegler's right hand.

October 11, 2024 at 1:17 AM

Goldman Sachs RIA custody No.2 resigns, adding to an exodus at the unit, but insiders say this time the ship is showing signs of righting itself

Cooper Rey is the biggest loss to date, after handing in his notice Thursday morning, but Goldman also has good news after five recent custody wins.

July 23, 2024 at 1:40 PM

Carson Group legal drama discovered by Omaha media with settlement still on table • DPL annuity sales top $3 billion milestone, two months ahead of schedule • Potomac gets serious about Seinfeld • SSGA raids Schwab for technology executive

Carson case develops • After taking 58 months to sell its first $1 billion of annuities, DPL did its third billion in six months • Potomac's Christopher Norton promises to show fun side of RIAs and thanks F-word (fiduciary) video ban • SSGA has a new COO.

July 19, 2024 at 4:34 AM

See more related moves

Mentioned in this article:

FiComm Partners
Marketing & Public Relations
Top Executive: Megan Carpenter, CEO



RIABiz Directory

The Industry Sourcebook for RIAs

   |    LISTING


RIABiz Directory sponsored by:

Directory Sponsor Logo

White Paper Postings


Common Tags


Recent Articles


Popular Writers


RIABiz logo

RIABiz

About Us

Directory

Archives

Connect

RIABiz, Mill Valley, California
Copyright © 2009-2024 RIABiz Inc. All rights reserved.