Blankfein To Leave Goldman As Soon As Year’s End

Ok, well Lloyd Blankfein is said to be on his way out at Goldman.

According to the Wall Street Journal, this isn’t something that is in any way forced. “The timing of any moves could still change, and the 63-year-old Mr. Blankfein is firmly in control of his exit,” WSJ writes, adding that “the departure would conclude a 36-year Goldman career for Blankfein [and] it isn’t clear what Mr. Blankfein will do after he steps down or whether he will retain his position as chairman of Goldman’s board.”

Given his Twitter history, I think it’s safe to say he won’t be working in the Trump administration.

The Journal details Lloyd’s various trials and tribulations, including the recent stumble in trading, falling ROE and the difficulties inherent in trying to help the bank shed the whole “muppet” meme. Additionally, WSJ makes sure to remind you that Goldman became the poster child for Wall Street nefariousness following the crisis.

His successor will either be Schwartz or Solomon, who together replaced Gary Cohn as Blankfein’s second when Gary decided to pursue “tremendous” opportunities in the “stable genius” advisory business, a career which came to an unceremonious end earlier this week. Cohn’s exit shook up the line of succession at the bank and now, WSJ says “even senior Goldman executives say they can’t tell which of the two heirs apparent holds an edge.”

Apparently, Lloyd will not “die at his desk” after all assuming he doesn’t keel over sometime soon which seems unlikely.

Goldman’s shares initially dipped on the news but have since recovered:

As for Gary Cohn, well, it could have been you man. But nooooo. You decided training toupeed monkeys was a better career choice.

Incidentally, if you had bought when Lloyd became CEO, you would have done pretty well, although not as well as an S&P 500 index fund.

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More coverage via BBG Gadfly’s Twitter moments feed:

Looking back at Lloyd Blankfein's impressive run at Goldman Sachs