Most investors left Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) earnings announcement disappointed this morning with second-quarter profit falling by more than 82%, but the company was buoyed by a silver lining of decreasing its operating expenses by more than 15% compared to the second quarter of 2009.
The firm’s total operating expenses dropped from $8.73 billion during the second quarter of 2009 to $7.39 billion during the second quarter of 2010 as the bank reduced its compensation costs from $6.65 billion to $3.38 billion.
Goldman Sachs set aside $9.3 billion to pay its 34,100 employees during the first half of the year, with a mean average salary of $272,580, compared with $11.4 billion during the first half of the year for 2009, which resulted in a mean average salary of $364,134 of the firm’s 31,200 employees at the time.
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (Goldman Sachs) is a bank holding and a global investment banking, securities and investment management company. The Company provides a range of financial services to customers, including corporations, financial institutions, governments and high-net-worth individuals. Its depository institution subsidiary, Goldman Sachs Bank USA (GS Bank USA), is a New York State-chartered bank. It operates in three segments: Investment Banking, Trading and Principal Investments and Asset Management and Securities Services. In March 2010, the Company’s subsidiaries sold the La Francia mine and related infrastructure assets, including Concession 5160, and Adromi Capital Corp., the holder of the La Francia II concession, to a subsidiary of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. In May 2010, Nexen Inc. sold its natural gas trading operations to a unit of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
Shares of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) traded down 0.13% on Tuesday hitting $145.49 during mid-day trading.
