Goldman Sachs's Participation in "Rip-Offs"

Goldman Sachs profits from fees earned by underwriting IPOs (Initial Public Offerings).  Recently the companies that Goldman has been helping with hyping and endorsing their offerings to the public have had less than stellar performances; namely, Facebook and Zynga.  The Facebook offering could be viewed as a "pump and dump" operation and Zynga as a "rip-off." 

Goldman and other underwriters did not lose anything but another big piece of what's left of their reputations.

Facebook fiasco?  Zynga is just as bad
Commentary:  Zynga underwriters didn't protect blindsided investors
By David Weidner - MarketWatch
 . . . .

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s blockbuster technology initial public offerings are becoming known by a less flattering term on Wall Street: rip-offs.

There’s been plenty of venom directed at Facebook Inc. and its lead stock underwriters for the initial public offering that critics saw as a thinly veiled pump and dump on clueless investors.

But a bigger heist may be Zynga Inc. ZNGA , the online gaming company brought public by an underwriting team led by, you guessed it, Morgan Stanley MS and Goldman Sachs GS. 

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