Greg has done it. He is now earning more than he would have been earning if he hadn’t exposed the rotten core of ethical detachment at Goldman Sachs. There was a bidding war for the rights to publish Greg’s memoir, and a division of the Hachette Book Group, Grand Central, outbid Penguin to get them.
Greg Smith, the South African-born ex-Goldman Sachs executive who resigned this month, and went on to launch a scathing attack on Goldman’s culture in the New York Times, is seeking a deal to write a book about his experiences there.
After South African-born Greg Smith sent a scornful resignation op-ed to the New York Times last week, Goldman Sachs will now undertake a company-wide email review. They’ll be searching for terms like “muppet”, and other things that may help to reveal disgruntled employees.
This really is quite something. One might even say a “trend” is occurring. Following the publication of a whistleblowing letter by an ex-Goldman Sachs employee in the New York Times, a second honest banker has emerged. He works at JPMorgan Chase, and wrote his letter to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Goldman Sachs lost $2,2 billion of its market value yesterday after Greg Smith – a South African-born Goldman “big shot” in Europe – chose to resign and write an opinion piece letter about Goldman’s corporate culture to the New York Times.
In an effort to increase awareness around debit and credit card safety, Visa and First National Bank (FNB) have teamed up to highlight the importance of card security to better educate consumers and protect them against fraud. Through an annual campaign running this year from the 13 – 16 March 2012, the Visa FNB Card […]
The liquidators of Aurora Empowerment Systems, which is accused of asset-stripping bankrupt Pamodzi Gold, amongst other dubious activities, will lay charges of fraud this week against Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Zondwa. President Jacob Zuma’s nephew should probably also look forward to facing some music.
Every year at Budget Speech time, South Africans get concerned with how much we’ll have to cough up for petrol and beer in the year to come. These are worthy concerns, but there’s much more to the budget says Karin Muller, Head of Growth Market Solutions at Sanlam. For starters, tax changes affect how much […]
Microsoft has launched a fascinating attack on Google Apps. In this instalment, Microsoft uses the American television series, Moonlighting, which aired during the mid 1980’s, to give us the spoof: Googlighting. Microsoft asks: “What happens when the world’s largest ad sales business tries to sell productivity software on the side?” It’s Microsoft Office versus Google Apps.
Every responsible adult knows it is their responsibility to listen to the annual Budget Speech delivered by the minister of Finance at the Opening Of Parliament, and to understand the changes to national policy and ramifications of said speech. Despite this, Minsters of Finance the world over stick to an unspoken rule – make the […]
Today, Euro zone finance ministers will meet to decide whether Greece has done enough to warrant a huge bailout loan of €130 billion. Greece needs the loan in order to avoid bankruptcy midway through March, when a massive repayment on its governmental debt must be completed.
Cape Town’s new tallest building is set to start taking shape as construction group Murray and Roberts have been awarded the R1,6 billion contract to build the Portside Project. It’s set to stand at 130 metres tall, comprising of 32 floors, and will house 52 000 square metres of office space for 3 000 people.
South African Airways has asked the government, sorry, the taxpayer that doesn’t get a say, for a recapitalisation of about R6 billion to fund operational costs, growth strategy and a fleet renewal for the coming future. Why? Because it would post a loss this financial year if this doesn’t happen, and growth is important.
American and European regulators have approved Google’s purchase of handset maker Motorola Mobility. The deal is worth a reported $12,5 billion and Google is said to be pleased at acquiring 17 000 new patents, and a further 7 500 patent applications as part of the deal.
Three Indian politicians, among them a women’s affairs minister, resigned after two of them were caught watching what was thought to be porn on a mobile phone belonging to another minister during a session of state parliament on Tuesday. They’re also members of one of the more morally conservative parties.
Capetonians: it’s that time of the year again when the City of Cape Town closes many of its roads for the opening of Parliament. As part of the pompous affair and fashion extravaganza, President Jacob Zuma will also deliver his all-important State of the Nation Address.
In the December business quarter, Apple’s iPhone business generated $24,4 billion of revenue. Microsoft’s whole company, from Windows to Office to servers to Xbox, generated just $20,9 billion.
Preparation at the site designated for the Chapman’s Peak four-lane toll plaza and office complex began last week, with official construction beginning this week. Estimates put completion of the complex to happen around Easter next year.
Facebook, the world’s largest social-networking service, could file for its initial public offering as early as Wednesday this week. It’s a move that has been on the cards for some time, but the rumour pot is now starting to boil more consistently.
And guess who’s got a finger in that pie? None other than convicted fraudster, Tony Yengeni. Granted it probably won’t be a very big warship, if we can really even call it that, but it has the potential to cost even more than the four frigates we bought as part of the controversial 1999 R60 billion arms deal.
The South African Institute of Race Relations is reporting that only five of the nine state owned enterprises reporting to the Department of Public Enterprises were profitable in the 2009 – 2010 financial year. The taxpayer makes up for the shortfalls.
Banks know they make too much money, and South African banks could learn a thing or two from this. Five of the UK’s biggest banks, including Lloyds, Barclays and RBS, as well as other credit card companies, have agreed to scrap the charges associated with buying currency with a card while abroad.
Saab Automobile has spent the last two years fighting to salvage the iconic brand that manufactured cars for six decades, but today announced that it had filed for bankruptcy in a Swedish district court. General Motors, who still had control over technology licenses, had disapproved of negotiations with two Chinese firms that sought to save Saab.
On 9 December 2011, British Prime Minister, David Cameron emerged from 10 hours of negotiations with European Union leaders, announcing his decision to reject new European Rules on behalf of Britain. It is a move that has set Britain up for a season of icy relations with its continental cousins that may last much longer than this year’s winter.
A new bit of legislation has just come into force in Hungary, in an attempt to deal with the large number of homeless people in Budapest. The regulation makes it a punishable offense to be homeless; the offense is punishable by a fine just under ZAR 5 000. Because, you know, that makes sense.
There appears to be a growing trend among rich New Yorkers in response to the increased attention being paid to “the 1%”. They’ve taken to buying cargo vans that look plain on the outside, but are opulent on the inside, tricked out with massage chairs wi-fi and widescreen televisions. Some of these guys cost upwards of ZAR 4 million.
At 2am this morning the NYPD started violently clearing out Zuccoti Park, where the peaceful Occupy Wall Street protestors have been camped out. The cops are using pepper spray, they are using LRAD sound weapons, and they are actively preventing any official media from reporting on their violation of OWS members’ constitutional rights. Shit’s gotten real.
Effective January 1, 2012, the minimum wage is going to increase by as much as 20% in Guangdong, the industrial province in China where most of the stuff you’ve bought in the past decade was produced. Which means you’ve got yourself a significant rise in consumer good prices worldwide incoming.
A report released by U.S. intelligence agencies claims that Chinese and Russian hackers, hired by their governments, have been stealing classified data from American government organizations. Assumptions like this have been made before, but this is the first time such a report to Congress has pointed the finger squarely at China and Russia.
George Papandreou’s shock announcement that he will put Greece’s bailout to a referendum helped the FTSE open nearly three per cent down this morning. It was interesting listening to Lindsay Williams on 2oceanVibe Radio a little earlier too. He remarked that there are more Porsche Cayennes registered in Greece than taxpayers declaring an income of 50 000 euros or more. Clearly Greeks aren’t fans of paying tax.