Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Goldman Sachs 3rd-quarter net plunges 70 percent

16 Sep, 2008, 1801 hrs IST, REUTERS
NEW YORK: Goldman Sachs Group Inc said on Tuesday third-quarter earnings plunged 70 percent as one of the worst market slumps ever weighed on banking and trading results. The largest U.S. investment bank reported net income of $845 million, or $1.81 a share, for the quarter ended August 29, down from $2.85 billion, or $6.13 a share, a year earlier.

Net revenue fell by half to $6.04 billion from $12.3 billion. "This was a challenging quarter as we saw a marked decrease in client activity and declining asset valuations," Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman's chief executive, said in a statement. The results come as the year-long credit crunch gains steam.

Six months after Bear Stearns collapsed and was acquired by JPMorgan Chase , Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc on Monday filed for bankruptcy protection while Merrill Lynch & Co rushed into the arms of Bank of America Corp.

Lehman last week reported a third-quarter loss of $3.9 billion -- on the heels of a $2.8 billion second-quarter loss -- fueled by nearly $8 billion in write-downs as well as steep declines in banking, underwriting and trading revenue.

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