The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
Investment banking and financial servicesFounded 1869- Updated June 2026
Reviewed by Swet Parvadiya
Last reviewed: June 2026
CorpDigest
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
Company History
Founded 1869 in New York, New York
Last reviewed: 2026-06-03 · By Swet Parvadiya
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. Was founded in 1869 in New York, New York by Marcus Goldman. Goldman sits at the intersection: it has the origination relationships, the credit expertise, and the distribution to institutional buyers. The firm's origination relationships, credit infrastructure, and distribution network position it to capture disproportionate flow. In 1869, he started doing something unglamorous but essential: buying commercial paper from merchants who needed cash before their invoices cleared, then selling those notes to banks and investors willing to fund them.
Marcus Goldman founded the firm in 1869 and built its first franchise in commercial paper. His specific contribution was turning trust into a financial product: he stood between merchants and capital providers when neither side had a modern data system to rely on. Goldman developed repeat relationships with borrowers and investors, creating an early network that could be scaled through reputation. He later brought family members into the business, including Samuel Sachs, which helped turn the operation from a one-man brokerage into a partnership. Goldman died in 1904, before the firm's defining 1906 Sears IPO, but his commercial-paper model left a lasting imprint. The modern Goldman Sachs still earns its best fees by solving capital-access problems under uncertainty. Marcus Goldman's influence survives in the firm's emphasis on client relationships, market judgment, and the ability to price trust when markets are not simple.
Samuel Sachs joined the firm in 1882 and helped create the Goldman Sachs partnership identity. His contribution was continuity and expansion. With Sachs involved, the firm could present itself as more than Marcus Goldman's personal brokerage, which mattered when clients were deciding whether to trust a firm with larger financing needs. The partnership eventually moved from commercial paper into securities underwriting, and Sachs was part of the bridge between those worlds. His family connection to Marcus Goldman helped reinforce a culture of internal trust, but his business role was broader than family symbolism. He supported the firm's transition toward organized markets, investor distribution, and larger corporate clients. After his era, the Goldman Sachs name carried a meaning that neither surname could have achieved alone: a partnership built on relationship finance, discretion, and the capacity to grow with American capital markets.
Goldman acquired United Capital to expand wealth management beyond ultra-high-net-worth clients and add a network of financial advisers serving a broader affluent customer base. The deal supported the firm's effort to build more recurring fee revenue and compete more directly with wealth-heavy rivals.
Goldman acquired Ayco to strengthen financial counseling and wealth planning services for corporate executives and high-net-worth clients. The deal gave Goldman a workplace and executive-planning channel that complemented private wealth management.
Goldman acquired Imprint Capital to strengthen ESG and impact-investing capabilities within asset management. The deal responded to institutional demand for portfolios that considered environmental, social, and governance outcomes alongside financial returns.
Goldman acquired NN Investment Partners for approximately EUR 1.7 billion, roughly $1.8 billion, to expand asset management scale in Europe and strengthen public markets and sustainable investing capabilities. The deal aligned with the firm's push toward more durable fee revenue.
Goldman acquired GreenSky to expand point-of-sale consumer lending and embedded finance. The deal was meant to strengthen Platform Solutions and give Goldman access to home-improvement financing through merchant relationships.
In 1869 Marcus Goldman began buying promissory notes from New York merchants who needed cash before their invoices cleared, then reselling those notes to banks at a small spread. He reportedly carried the paper in his hat band as he walked between Lower Manhattan offices, building a business on his personal judgment of which borrowers would repay. That working-capital niche became the seed of a firm that joined the New York Stock Exchange in 1896.
In 1906 Goldman Sachs led the initial public offering of Sears, Roebuck and Co., moving the firm from short-term commercial paper into full securities underwriting. The deal proved Goldman could operate in large-scale corporate finance rather than just the working-capital market for small merchants. It established underwriting relationships that anchored the firm's franchise for decades.
In 1928 Goldman created the Goldman Sachs Trading Corporation, a leveraged closed-end investment trust sold to the public largely on the strength of the Goldman name. When markets collapsed in the 1929 crash, the vehicle was wiped out and investors were devastated, nearly ruining the firm's reputation. The scar shaped Goldman's later risk-committee culture and its deep suspicion of speculative uses of firm capital.
During the 2008 financial crisis Goldman Sachs converted from an investment bank into a bank holding company, accepting Federal Reserve oversight and stricter capital rules in exchange for access to emergency liquidity. The change came as rivals such as Lehman Brothers collapsed and Bear Stearns was absorbed, and it permanently ended the era of the lightly regulated standalone investment bank. The move ensured Goldman's survival but subjected it to Basel capital requirements that still constrain returns today.
Goldman Sachs helped raise roughly $6.5 billion in bonds for Malaysia's 1MDB state fund, much of which was later found to have been looted. In October 2020 Goldman agreed to pay more than $2.9 billion to the U.S. Department of Justice under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and its Malaysian unit pleaded guilty, with total global penalties reaching about $5 billion. The case exposed failures of internal control and escalation that damaged the firm's reputation as working capital.