Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. - Vignette of Marcus Goldman & Samuel Sachs - 1999 dated Specimen Stock Certificate - Fantastic Design

Specimen Stock printed by American Bank Note Company. Portraits of Marcus Goldman and Samuel Sachs.

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company, recognized as the second largest investment bank globally by revenue. Ranked 55th on the Fortune 500 list of the largest U.S. corporations by total revenue, Goldman Sachs is also considered a systemically important financial institution by the Financial Stability Board. The company provides a broad array of services, including investment banking (advisory on mergers and acquisitions and restructuring), securities underwriting, prime brokerage, asset management, and wealth management through Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management. Additionally, it operates private equity and hedge funds, structures complex and customized financial products, and owns Goldman Sachs Bank USA, a direct bank. Goldman Sachs engages in both flow trading on behalf of clients and proprietary trading for its own account. It also invests in and arranges financing for startups, often serving as a bookrunner when these companies go public. The firm is one of over 100 strategic partners of the World Economic Forum.

Founded in 1869 by Marcus Goldman in a one-room basement office in New York City, the firm started next to a coal chute. Samuel Sachs, Goldman's son-in-law, joined the firm in 1882, and by 1885, Goldman's son Henry Goldman and another son-in-law, Ludwig Dreyfuss, also joined, leading to the adoption of the name Goldman Sachs & Co. The company was a pioneer in using commercial paper for entrepreneurs and became a member of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 1896. By 1898, the firm’s capital had grown to $1.6 million. Goldman Sachs expanded its presence by opening offices in Boston and Chicago in 1900, San Francisco in 1918, and Philadelphia and St. Louis in 1920.