Goldman Sachs IPO

About Goldman Sachs IPO

Goldman Sachs went public on May 3, 1999 at 53 per share. The IPO valued the firm at 33 billion. Goldman had been a partnership for 130 years. Partners received shares worth tens of millions each. The decision to go public was driven by the need for permanent capital to compete with public rivals. Hank Paulson, then CEO, argued the IPO was necessary for long term survival. The timing was near the peak of the dot com bubble. Goldman stock rose 33 percent on its first day of trading. The IPO made hundreds of Goldman partners into instant multimillionaires. The shift from partnership to public company changed Goldmans culture, according to critics who argued it encouraged excessive risk taking.