Goldman Sachs: Don't Look At 'External Websites,' Don't Talk About 'External Websites,' Don't Even Think About 'External Websites'

Posted by Bess Levin, Oct 14, 2008, 11:26am

Here, have a New Yorker cartoon for your troubles.

GS Gag Order [PDF]

Related: 1-2 Joins 'Large' In Welfare Line

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Posted in: Goldman Sachs

Comments

1

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 11:29AM

What happened to the Citadel posting?!

2

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 11:29AM

BESS THIS IS KEN GRIFFIN CAN YOU TAKE DOWN THAT FUCKING POST TY DEAR.

3

Posted by EricM , Oct 14, 2008 11:31AM

Did CG just say Andrew Hamilton?

4

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 11:33AM

Oh wow, where is the Citadel post?

5

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 11:33AM

seriously BL...at least give an explanation to the removal of the citadel post

6

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 11:33AM

it's absurd to take down postings without explanation. c'mon Bess. Splain the citadel post????

7

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 11:34AM

Great! We just started an exclusive network for Wall Street professionals, http://wallity.com yesterday and now Goldman puts this out today.

8

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 11:35AM

Where does it explain on this page how the GS employee sets up my free checking account?

9

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 11:35AM

Hmm, copied the post and sent it around with the link and now its gone?

10

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 11:36AM

Did not someone at GS just violate GS policy by giving DB a copy of the GS Gag Order?

Just wondering...

The Guy from Delaware

11

Posted by Investorcluzo , Oct 14, 2008 11:36AM

seems like the new gs policy would not prohibit 1-2 from having a blog that doesn't mention anything about gs! 1-2 fight back bro...

what happened to the investor letters from this am? did someone get a call to take them down? I guess the watermark did the trick.

12

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 11:36AM

KEN said it - why did u take it down???? Scared?

13

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 11:37AM

Where is the Citadel post. I bet that asshole Anal_yst had something to do with taking it down.

14

Posted by Novice , Oct 14, 2008 11:39AM

Since I missed this Citadel bidness, I'll just comment that how can you stay mad at them when they toss you a cartoon gratis?
http://tinyurl.com/4aqeo7

15

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 11:39AM

#10 you are a kiss ass fart sucker.

16

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 11:41AM

hey what does Bess Levin look like??

17

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 11:41AM

Hey can someone retell the gist of the citadel post??

18

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 11:45AM

Down 40% this month due to high leverage.

19

Posted by StupidEquityGuy , Oct 14, 2008 11:45AM

NY Times has an article about another hedgy in trouble... it appears to be the season of our public mocking...

"...Only 10 months ago, Remy Trafelet was so flush that he treated about 100 employees at his hedge fund to a getaway in Venice. He and his crew spent a long, luxurious weekend at the five-star Hotel Bauer, which has Murano glass chandeliers, private gondoliers and a splendid view of a 17th-century basilica.

Remy Trafelet, a fund manager, has tried to reassure his top traders and investors.

But now, a bit like Venice, Mr. Trafelet’s hedge fund seems to be sinking. His flagship fund has fallen about 26 percent this year, and Mr. Trafelet is struggling to hold on to anxious employees, as well as some investors..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/14/business/14hedge.html?partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss

20

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 11:45AM

@17 -- Citadel going bankrupt because it relies on Goldman Sachs employees posting to external websites to enable its prime brokerage facility operations. (GS PB system a little kludgy.)

21

Posted by Novice , Oct 14, 2008 11:45AM

@10 Quick on the uptake! We can never slip anything past you.

22

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 11:47AM

"NVESTING
Hedge funds lose their edge
Headshot of Eric Reguly

ERIC REGULY
ereguly@globeandmail.com

October 13, 2008
"Another surprising loser was Chicago's Citadel Investment Group, run by boy wonder Kenneth Griffin, who is only 40 and was ranked last year by Forbes magazine as the 117th-richest American, with a worth of $3-billion. He got married in the garden of Versailles and paid $60-million for a Cezanne.

Mr. Griffin almost never stumbled, even during the dot-com collapse and the short U.S. recession after the September, 2001, terrorist attacks. From 1998 to 2007, his funds had average annual returns of 20 per cent, or more than three times better than the S&P 500 stock index.

But this market has defeated him. His two main investment funds were down 20 per cent at the end of September as equity trades and arbitrage strategies, like betting on mergers that never happened, blew up."

http://tinyurl.com/3v2386

23

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 11:51AM

cramer turned out to be right:

INVESTING
Hedge funds lose their edge
ERIC REGULY
ereguly@globeandmail.com
October 13, 2008
"Let's start with Jeffrey Gendell's Tontine Funds, based in - where else? - Greenwich, Conn., the hedgies' "Gold Coast." Mr. Gendell launched Tontine in 1997 and reaped consistent double-digit returns. The returns in 2003 and 2005 were 100 per cent in each year as his bets on home builders and steel companies, both well on their way to bubble status, proved spectacularly correct.

A Barron's article in 2003 said "he's right so often, he's scary." He plowed some of the spoils into the Cincinnati Reds baseball team, where he is part-owner.

By the end of September, the fund was down 67 per cent, with almost all of the loss coming in that one month alone. Tontine had $10-billion of investments at the end of June, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Not any more."

http://tinyurl.com/3v2386

24

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 11:53AM

anal_breath.

25

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 11:53AM

Citadel Investments is said to be down about 40 percent (unfortunately, we don't have an investor letter to back this number up), and word is going around that because he is massively leveraged, Ken Griffin's prime brokers are threatening liquidation.

26

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 11:53AM

All things being considered, when the rules of the game began to change, these guys may not have been able to react fast enough.

27

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 11:54AM

Bess, we need a new caption contest!

http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-CM889_treasu_D_20081014095351.jpg

The obedient Mr. Bald and the subservient Mr. Beard.

-m

28

Posted by StupidEquityGuy , Oct 14, 2008 11:57AM

97 cents on the Dollar, or maybe not... maybe less... maybe we don't know how many shares you actually had...

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Reserve Management Co. has postponed a $20 billion
distribution from its flagship Primary Fund, and cannot make redemptions
from its International Liquidity Fund due to a court action.
The New York-based asset manager said on Oct. 2 that it planned to
distribute $20 billion to investors pro rata in proportion to the number of
shares each held in its troubled Primary Fund as of the close of business on
Sept. 15. The distribution, which represents about 32% of the fund's assets
as of Sept. 15, was expected to take place on or about Oct. 13.
But the distribution will not occur in that time frame, Reserve Management
now says in a statement on its Web site.
"The process of determining accurately the number of shares each investor
held in the Primary Fund has proven to be extremely complex and could not be
completed in the originally anticipated time frame," the firm said.

29

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 12:00PM

Damn you Bess! How dare you remove the Citadel post? If Citadel is going bust, we DB readers, the most important human beings on this Earth, needs to know first so we can gloat in Ken's face.

30

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 12:00PM

go away 27, that picture is several weeks old

31

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 12:03PM

we want the citadel article back assholes!

BRING IT BACK BITCHES!

32

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 12:04PM

That's it. Since you pussies don't dare to keep up what you've posted, I'm going to Clusterstock to ask Carney to post about it.

Hah! Take that bitches!

33

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 12:07PM

@clustercock- yes, enjoy their posts that have meaningless content and will never be taken down.

34

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 12:10PM

RE: Ken Griffin & Citadel...

Although TGFD knows nothing to little about hedge funds, I do have some knowledge of people.

A few weeks back when that "sissy candysss" Griffin (as I referred to him then on DB) put out that 'statement of strength' letter to Citadel clients, I knew then that Citadel was in bad shape. It didn't take a genius to realize that "he was scared shitless of something". That's what I wrote on DB.

I forgot about that sissy-candyass Griffin until just now.

I'm glad I was right about something for a change. That's all.

The Guy from Delaware

35

Posted by Anal_yst , Oct 14, 2008 1:35PM

@ 13 & 34

WTF would I have to do with anything? Care to elaborate, or does your tin helmet prevent you from doing so?

36

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 1:51PM

Well during lunch on CNBC when they were ruminating and philosophizing about whether or not the street would ever be the same, old charlie said the hedge funds and private equity would now rule. He also claimed that the hedges are just fine. So, we shall see, or maybe not since it is all so super sekret.

37

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 2:50PM

Hey Anal_yst, what are the three latest FASB numbers you have been researching?

SPODE

38

Posted by Anal_yst , Oct 14, 2008 3:07PM

@ SPODE

I've been spending quite a bit of time on FAS 157, there's some others (i.e. FAS 133, FAS 140, etc) but thats the one I've been trying to learn the most about.

Seriously, think Finance/econ academics/regulators are out of it, the accountants and auditors are even worse from what I can tell. If the guy with the ms/phD in econ/finance/physics/etc can't even figure out the structured credit derivatives, you really think the 28-year-old auditor with the BS in accounting can?

Amazing that didn't work out as they'd planned, huh?

39

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 3:28PM

Anal_yst@#35...

I trust that you meant @ 13 & 24, Not "@ 13 & 34".

TGFD (#34) didn't and wouldn't say anything derogatory about you.

The Guy from Delaware

p.s. I do like your "tin helmet" reference, though. Ha.

40

Posted by guest , Oct 14, 2008 5:24PM

Anal_yst
Agreed. For the few impairments realized last quarter it was minimal and having the auditor rely on the value provided by the client that was provided by the banker seemed careless e.g., Lehman had advised a less than 10 percent reduction. I think auditors will push hard on SFAS 142. Should be interesting moving from a purchase method to fair value for business combinations under 141R starting December 15 when fair value has changed from mark to market/model/Fed/CYA/pick a value to save your ass.


SPODE

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