By Tyler Durden | 3 April 2020
ZERO HEDGE — This is definitely not a good look.
At a time when the federal government is struggling to manage its $2 trillion bailouts for main street and SMEs, a handful of Goldman Sachs insiders (probably high-ranking executives) have apparently decided to sandbag CEO David Solomon, who is already reeling from the blowback to his latest raise, the highest among his peers despite $GS’s lagging performance.
BBG reported Friday that Solomon recently OK’d the purchase of two private jets, breaking with a longstanding corporate tradition.
For years, there was an allergy inside Goldman Sachs to owning a private corporate jet. Top bankers had access to rides on planes shared with others, but didn’t want to erode their less-than-stellar image on Main Street with the unnecessary extravagance of having their own.
Until David Solomon took over.
The CEO has ordered up a pair of top-of-the-line Gulfstreams for the firm, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The firm chose a G700 model that sells for about $75 million each, is powered by Rolls-Royce engines and offers cabins so long and wide they contain a master suite with shower.
Understanding why Solomon’s decision might have rankled so many within Goldman requires some knowledge of the firm’s recent history. The bank has long used the fact that it didn’t own a private jet for its executives to travel in as a PR bulwark against liberal Democrats and other critics. Instead of owning a jet outright, Goldman allowed its executives access to chartered planes via an arrangement with NetJets, the Berkshire subsidiary that brokers part ownerships in business aircraft. […]
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