CEO Lloyd Blankfein

FTI Consulting Inc. said Monday it has agreed to accelerate the repurchase of $250 million of its stock from Goldman, Sachs & Co. FTI Consulting will pay the $250 million from available cash on hand to repurchase outstanding shares and will receive most of the shares no later than Nov. 12. All repurchased shares will be retired, the company said in a statement. The number of shares to be repurchased will be based on the volume-weighted average share price of the company's common stock during the term of the agreement. The repurchase is part of the $500 million share repurchase program announced on Nov. ... Read Full Story

LONDON (Reuters) - The chief executive of Goldman Sachs, which has attracted widespread media attention over the size of its staff bonuses, believes banks serve a social purpose and are doing "God's work." In an interview with London's Sunday Times newspaper, Lloyd Blankfein also said he believed big profits and bonuses at banks were a sign that the world economy was recovering. "We help companies to grow by helping them to raise capital. Companies that grow create wealth. This, in turn, allows people to have jobs that create more growth and more wealth. We have a social purpose," he told the paper. The dominant ... Read Full Story

You think the people at Goldman Sachs don't know that you think of them as greedy, unrepentant bastards who owe their robust health to a prolonged feeding on the lifeblood of the American taxpayer? They know, as CEO Lloyd Blankfein told the Times of London this week, that "people are pissed off, mad, and bent out of shape," that the CEO could "slit [his] wrists and people would cheer." It's been said that Goldman has been going on a " charm offensive " to combat their "image problem," and this seems to be true: If the quotes the Times ' John Arlidge picked up ... Read Full Story

Do you know how much they have put at risk? (Guess it doesn’t matter if the taxpayers are going to bail you out). Looks like signs of an impending collapse if you ask me. The following is a list of the top 10 banks holding derivatives. Note that the top 5 hold 97% of all derivatives. The following table lists the top ten banks and the notional value of derivatives they hold in $TRILLIONS. JPMORGAN CHASE BANK NA…………….79.9 GOLDMAN SACHS BANK USA…………….40.5 BANK OF AMERICA NA……………………..39.1 CITIBANK NATIONAL ASSN……………….31.9 WELLS FARGO BANK NA…………………….5.1 HSBC BANK USA NATIONAL ASSN……….3.2 BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON…………….1.3 STATE ... Read Full Story

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Wall Street firms are in a quandary about getting involved with a planned public offering of Russian aluminum producer UC RUSAL because its founder has been barred from getting a U.S. visa on account of allegations that he is connected to organized crime, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Citing sources familiar with the matter, the newspaper reported that Goldman Sachs Group Inc <GS.N> had looked likely to take one of the top two underwriting slots before stepping away from the deal in recent weeks. Billionaire Oleg Deripaska has denied links to organized crime and has never been charged with ... Read Full Story