The boy who saved Goldman Sach

IN 1940, a stockbroker from the Midwest took his ten-year-old son on a trip to New York City. They dropped in at the office of Sidney Weinberg, who was trying to restore the reputation of Goldman Sachs, the investment bank that had been disgraced during the great crash of 1929. Weinberg took the time to chat to the precocious youngster, even asking the name of his favourite stock. That may have been the most productive half-hour of Weinberg’s life.


Sixty-eight years later Sept 25, 2008, Goldman Sachs turned to that lad, now one of the richest men in the world, for a capital injection of $5 billion. The infusion of Warren Buffett’s money, and the backing of his reputation, means that Goldman has so far escaped the fate of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers during the recent credit crunch.