Goldman Sachs has record
earnings; may go public

Star-Bulletin news services

NEW YORK -- Goldman, Sachs & Co., the last big investment banking partnership on Wall Street, said it earned a record $1.022 billion before taxes for the three months that ended on Feb. 28, benefiting from some of the most favorable financial market conditions in years.

Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate owns about 10 percent of Goldman.

The results, which were reported yesterday before taxes because Goldman partners settle their own taxes, represent a 13 percent increase from the comparable period a year earlier, and an 80 percent rise from the previous quarter, the last for its 1997 financial year.

"The business environment is as good as we've seen it in a long time," said David Viniar, Goldman's deputy chief financial officer said. "We see no slowing down."

But he added cautiously, "trees do not grow to the sky," and eventually these conditions will change.

Meanwhile, Goldman has set up a committee to conduct a wide-ranging review of business strategies, including the possibility of a public stock sale, a person familiar with the situation told Bloomberg News.

The committee was set up last month and is run by Henry Paulson Jr., president and chief operating officer of Goldman.

It is scheduled to present its findings to Goldman's executive and operating committees within a few months, although there is no guarantee it will make any recommendation about a stock sale at that time, the person said.

A Goldman spokesman declined to comment on the Bloomberg report except to say "there is absolutely no plan for Goldman, Sachs to go public."

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