Goldman Sachs Shares Fall After Greg Smith Resignation and Op-Ed Piece
May 18th, 2012
Shares of Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) tanked 3.4% on Wednesday after Greg Smith resigned from his position as executive director and made accusations in The New York Times Op-Ed section. In his piece Smith wrote, “The firm changed the way it thought about leadership. Leadership used to be about ideas, setting an example and doing the right thing. Today, if you make enough money for the firm (and are not currently an ax murderer) you will be promoted into a position of influence.” Yale University’s School of Management dean Jeffrey Sonnenfeld commented on the piece, saying in an interview that Goldman has “a serious trust issue here and they have to acknowledge that.” Yesterday the company fell $4.17 to $120.37 at the close, while shares of the company rose 0.5% to $120.98 in morning trading. Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) has potential upside of 5% based on a current price of $123.32 and an average consensus analyst price target of $129.5.
