4 May 1999: Goldman Sachs finally goes public
After decades as a private partnership, Goldman Sachs began trading on the NYSE on May 4, 1999. Priced at $53 a share, the stock jumped on its first day, and the offering raised more than $3.6 billion. Partners became very rich on paper, and the firm gained permanent capital to take bigger risks. Critics later argued that trading with shareholders' money rather than partners' money changed its culture.
The lesson: Who bears the losses shapes how much risk people take; check whose money is really on the line.
What it meant for investors
$1,000 in Goldman Sachs at the start of 2000 → $8,182 today, vs $4,626 in the S&P 500.
We start the clock at the start of 2000, the first year in our price data after the event. That is 8.2 times the money, and $3,556 more than a plain index fund made over the same years.
What Goldman Sachs teaches: Reputation and returns can diverge for years; an elite franchise can lose public trust and still compound, provided its core business keeps earning.
| Bought in | Price then | Worth today | S&P 500 would be |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | $88.00 | $8,182 | $4,626 |
| 2003 | $70.00 | $10,286 | $7,727 |
| 2005 | $105 | $6,857 | $5,763 |
green = beat the S&P 500 · red = lost money
What if you bought Goldman Sachs? Every starting year and the full story →
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Could you have called it at the time? The wheel picks the year, you pick the position, ten seconds a pick.
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