Wednesday morning Goldman Sachs, not looking to be left behind, announced it would be acquiring GreenSky for $2.24 billion.
Goldman Sachs said that their loan business would contribute almost half of the $5 billion in revenue growth it is projecting by 2020; the company will put $28 billion towards loans in the next three years in order to grow that part of the business; Revenue growth has remained flat since the financial crisis and trading revenues remain stagnant. Source
Goldman Sachs continues to show interest in consumer finance; CEO of Final, Aaron Frank announced that the startup would be closing in December 2017 but did not provide further details; a dozen engineers and product managers will be joining Goldman Sachs; Final was founded in 2014 and offered consumers a credit card; users were able to generate virtual cards unique to a merchant. Source
Goldman Sachs reported its first quarter earnings on April 18 with few details about its new online lending platform, Marcus; the only mention of the new platform was in the analyst Q&A; the firm said the new platform is evolving slowly and is operating according to plans; the firm reported revenue of $8.03 billion, an increase of 26.7% from the first quarter of 2016; net earnings were $2.26 billion and earnings per share were $5.15; disappointing trading revenue was a point of emphasis for the quarter; investors are interested in more details about Marcus, which has a competitive cost advantage and is reporting potential return on assets of three times the return on assets of the firm as a whole at 3%; as Goldman Sachs progresses further with its retail business expansion, investors will be watching the retail business contribution overall which could help to cover some of its recent shortcomings and give it an edge over its competitors. Source
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Genesis Capital is based in Los Angeles and provides capital to house flippers; they were founded in 2007 and lent $1 billion last year; the move shows Goldman’s continued interest in other areas outside their trading business; investor spending on the fix and flip market has grown recently, but still remains below pre-crisis levels. Source
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Goldman Sachs has launched an in house incubator that will allow employees to work on innovative ideas; GS Accelerate is currently accepting applications to move Goldman into new business areas, manage risk and try to fix inefficiencies; the move is part of a wider strategy for Goldman who now shows 46 percent of staff being in technology; “When it comes to entrepreneurship, there are always more failures than successes,” a memo reported by TearSheet stated. “But if we’re creative, imaginative and learn from what did and didn’t work, GS Accelerate can become a powerful engine to bring important ideas to life.” Source.
deBanked reports that Bond Street has stopped making new loans; seven months ago Bond Street announced a $300 million loan purchase agreement with Jefferies; the WSJ outlines that engineers, product developers, and risk and marketing specialists will join Goldman’s consumer bank; Square is allegedly also in talks with some Bond Street employees. Source
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