After Goldman Sachs announced its first-quarter results yesterday, you probably read the headlines proclaiming that the bank’s profits and bonuses plunged. You likely saw that its quarterly profit tumbled 55% year-over-year, more than any of its major competitors, of which Wells Fargo (-5%) and J.P. Morgan Chase (-7%) fared the best.
You may have seen that Goldman’s Q1 bonus pool was $2.66bn, an average of less than $73k per employee for the first three months of the year – a 40% drop from a year ago.
That said, here are other key takeaways from Goldman’s Q1 earnings announcement that you may have missed:
Goldman's CFO, Harvey Schwartz, said they are “open-minded” and willing to explore alternative ways to drive revenue like acquisitions.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg released its annual ranking of the best undergraduate business programs in the U.S., and not a single Ivy League university was able to crack the top 10, although Cornell’s Dyson came as close as you possibly can, finishing 11th on the list.
Villanova surged to the top of the ranking, followed by Notre Dame’s Mendoza in second, Boston College’s Carroll in third place, Indiana University’s Kelley in the fourth position and the University of Virginia’s McIntire in fifth.
Meanwhile:
Nomura's equities team thought there was only a 25% of full shut-down in equities (Euromoney)
Barclays' head of foreign exchange for corporate clients, Gareth Noble, has left the bank. (Business Insider)
J.P. Morgan and the boutique bank M. Klein & Co. are advising Saudi Arabia on the initial public offering of Saudi Aramco, which could become the world's largest publicly traded company. (Business Insider)
The “Mad Punter” is on trial for allegedly making £7.4m ($10.6m). His lawyer told the jury they must repress the envy they likely feel about his extravagant wealth, because this isn’t a popularity contest, after all. (Bloomberg)
Wells Fargo hired Kristi Mitchem to run its asset management division, overseeing a business that manages $480bn in client assets. (Reuters)
Citi's co-head of equities for Australia, Angus Richardson, is headed to Hong Kong to take a regional role as head of the bank's cash sales team. (Financial Review)
Fintech 'frenemies' - both start-ups and traditional banks profit. (Credit Suisse)
An increasing number of old-economy companies, including General Mills, 7-Eleven and the Campbell Soup Co. have joined a crowd of technology companies to create venture capital funds. (New York Times)
European MBA programs are getting cheaper, plus you can finish in just one year. (Quartz)
Sometimes lies are allowed in a business deal. (New York Times)
As an intern, you shouldn’t expect to serve tea and coffee to senior executives – you should focus on standing out from the crowd if you want to land a graduate job. (Learning to Leap)
'How can I get ahead at work without being promoted?' (Telegraph)