If you’ve spent six years working for Goldman Sachs, have been a member of the Goldman management committee and are a favourite of CEO David Solomon, then when you leave maybe it’s inevitable that you will be drafted in to interview your replacement. But what if you left following a furore over your appearance in the Epstein report, wherein you were seen both to have called Jeffrey Epstein “a sweetie” and to have received various Jeffrey gifts including but not limited to a $9.4k Hermès bag (before you worked for Goldman)? In this situation, would interviewing your successor still be a thing?
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Goldman Sachs seems to think that, yes, it absolutely would. But Goldman thinks Ruemmler has done nothing wrong. Both the firm and Ruemmler herself have always denied that she committed any transgressions in relation to Epstein, and Ruemmler – who was Goldman’s top lawyer – has said she regretted ever knowing him. Epstein was a “monster,” says Ruemmler. Solomon has long held the line that Ruemmler was “an excellent general counsel and we benefit from her advice every day.” The historic relation with Epstein was a oversight in an exemplary career.
All of which means that if you feel like being the next general counsel at Goldman Sachs when Ruemmler leaves on June 30, you may encounter Ruemmler during your interview process. The Financial Times reports that Ruemmler has been involved in hiring her replacement and is interviewing candidates. Goldman Sachs confirms this and told the FT: “Of course the current general counsel is involved in interviewing the candidates for our next general counsel…No one knows the requirements of this job better than Kathy. But it’s absurd to imply that Kathy is choosing her successor.”
When Ruemmler’s successor is chosen, he or she will also have Ruemmler in the background as an advisor. Bloomberg reported last week that Solomon had pressed Ruemmler to remain with the firm. Maybe this too is perfectly normal. At the very least, it might be an indication that when you interview at Goldman Sachs, you need to know everything about the person who occupied the role before you. Goldman Sachs declined to comment.
Separately, you don’t have to work for a hedge fund to make money from hedge funds. Bloomberg reports that Abu Dhabi Investment Council, which is a unit of Mubadala Investment Company, which is another sovereign wealth fund, is contemplating $15bn of bets on multistrategy hedge funds using total return swaps.
Total return swaps are highly leveraged derivatives which enable investors to get all the returns from an asset without actually owning it. This sounds great. Except that they also expose investors to all the losses from the asset without actually owning it. And leverage means the losses can be large.
Total return swaps have caused problems in the past. Archegos Capital had tens of billions of total return swaps and when its investments unexpectedly tanked in March 2021, it did not end well, either for the fund or for Credit Suisse. The chief investment officer for hedge funds at ADIC is saying: “We continue to see value in strategies that can provide diversification, downside protection, and attractive risk-adjusted returns across market cycles.”
Meanwhile…
“The core lesson that everyone has learned from this experience is never bet against Elon – it’s just a bad idea.” (Bloomberg)
SpaceX cafeteria workers are about to become millionaires. It is too late for you but here is a job there anyway. (Spacex)
Now that McKinsey & Co. is using AI for its presentations, it’s realising how annoying PowerPoint was. In the old days, multiple versions of a presentation would circulate and people would edit the wrong one. (Business Insider)
Jinger Zhao, a former Two Sigma Investments managing director, once authored a paper on gender differences in marathon running, and found that men overestimated their abilities compared to women. Now she’s possibly being given $300m from Blackstone to set up an absolute return platform called z Star Research. (Bloomberg)
JPMorgan hired 350 people in the EU last year. (Financial News)
Healthcare jobs are regulated and so not susceptible to AI, says Apollo. (Bloomberg)
Work for Citadel, live in Ken Griffin’s housing. He is building 300 apartments and a 1,400 parking space garage in Miami. (WSJ)
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