Goldman Sachs Reveals $428 Million Loss In Q3 2011

It wasn’t a good quarter to be a trader or investor at financial firm Goldman Sachs after the company posted a $428 million loss on Wednesday, equivalent to 84 centers per share.

Analysts had expected the company to post a 16 cent per share loss however the company recorded a loss of $2.48 billion in its Investment & Lending division, the sector of the company that controls stocks, bonds and other long-term holdings.

The loss includes $1.05 billion from Goldman’s private equity investment for the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

Speaking about the losses CEO Lloyd Blankfein said:

“Our results were significantly impacted by the environment, and we were disappointed to record a loss.”

The quarterly loss is only the second time in Goldman Sachs history that the company reported negative results. The last negative reporting quarter came in Q4 2008 as the economy spun out of control and Lehman Brothers disappeared into the night.

Compared to the same time last year the company’s revenues were down 60% while they also fell 51% from Q2 2011.

According to the financial statement the companies urrency and commodities client trading business, once a key profit creator for the company reported just $1.73 billion in revenue, down by 36 percent from one year earlier.

Are you surprised to learn that Goldmach Sachs has fallen so fast, so quickly?