American Idol, Goldman Sachs Edition

January 31, 2010 1:00pm by Barry Ritholtz

Ever wonder why Goldman execs don’t speak to mere mortals? The answer was hidden in a tongue-in-cheek Michael Lewis Bloomberg column, which he slipped this by everyone late night Friday.

Its an internal memo to Lloyd Bankfein, chock full of suggestions to improve GS’ public image.

This one was my favorite:

Each year, for example, Goldman Sachs might announce a grand national competition, much like “American Idol.” Finalists will appear before a national television audience to be judged by a panel of three rather ordinary looking Goldman executives. On stage they will perform various Wall Street tricks: negotiating with Tim Geithner, lobbying the Senate Banking Committee, designing securities that blow up, selling bonds to Germans, etc.

The winner receives a job at Goldman Sachs.

I suspect the show would not get great ratings, but the demographics would be incredible.

Source:
Goldman Trader Shares Three Big Ideas With Lloyd
Michael Lewis
Bloomberg, Jan. 29 2010
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=aWwht2XAEt84

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