August 13, 2008 12:32PM

Goldman Sach’s Looks Overseas

By Alexis Glick

OK. I cannot resist. Today was one of my favorite days. The lineup of guests and topics that we had on Money for Breakfast and The Opening Bell, which I host, were excellent. This is the part of my job that I love the most. Today we talked about everything from Goldman Sachs and why they are reinvesting in overseas markets and personnel, to the Presidential candidates Healthcare plans, to the CEO of Athenahealth, who happens to be a cousin to President Bush and the brother of Billy Bush of Access Hollywood, the dollar value of the gold medal, which will surprise you, and then the back to school season for retailers. Not to mention the two all stars who appeared on The Opening Bell. David Darst, Morgan Stanley’s Chief Investment Strategist for the Global Wealth Management Division and then, Wilbur Ross, billionaire investor, known for buying distressed companies on the verge of bankruptcy and turning them around. Is that an unbelievable day or what? 

So I’m warning you or preparing you for A LOT of blogs today with video from some of these interviews. For those of you who watch the shows, I apologize for the redundancy. I choose to post some of the interviews I do each day on this blog because I know No. 1 that you can’t watch the whole show and No. 2 that you probably don’t want to and No. 3 that many of you don’t see it in your hometown. In some small way, this is my way of spreading the FOX Business Network programming and I hope from time to time that something catches your eye. I also want to give a shout out to everyone who has taken the time to comment on the blogs. I want you to know that I do read the comments and I am thrilled when we get record numbers. I welcome comments and hope that everyone feels they have a say in what works and doesn’t work. I want your feedback and hope that this is a forum to talk about ideas. I also want to remind you that you can find us by calling your local cable company or by going to the channel finder on our website. We are on DirecTV and that is available across the country in addition to many more cable operators.  

So let’s get to the first story on Goldman. This morning we talked about Goldman’s analyst ratings and earning cuts over the past couple of days, concerns about where it will make money or if it will be able to maintain stellar earnings in a lousy environment, why they are sending top notch talent overseas, what that costs the company and if that tells us something about the future of Goldman’s business and the financial industry. Up at bat, Dick Bove of Ladenburg Thalmann, David Buick of BCG Partners and Randy Wilson of NEI Global Relocation.  

As you’ll see despite the cuts and Dick’s initial call, which lead the way on those rating cuts, Dick and David still like the company and think they have great growth opportunities overseas. This news on the heels this morning of Goldman’s decision to make a huge private equity investment in a portfolio of companies largely in Europe divested by Dutch bank ABN Amro. The deal comprises 32 European companies and roughly $450 million in capital to invest in future deals. What does this tell you? If only we knew about this when we talked at 7am? This tells you that Goldman is making an investment in overseas markets and the European economy because they feel that there is money to be made, market share to be taken away from some of the larger European institutions that are failing and because they need to look for growth opportunities while they deleverage their balance sheet here in the U.S.