Commentary - 04/11/2008

Is Goldman-Sachs Deceiving Us Once Again?

One of today's headlines was Sell WaMu short, Goldman analysts advise from Investment News. There was a fairly recent article written by Ben Stein titled The Long and Short of It at Goldman Sachs. That story ran in the New York Times on December 2, 2007. It pointed out that Goldman-Sachs is known to short the same paper that they sell long. So is Goldman Sachs now asking you to short Washington Mutual's stock so that their Institutional Holders can buy more of it cheap?

To fully understand these folks, you should at least take a look at the TOP 10 Major Holders of each company. Then you'll understand their self-interest and the inside wheeling-dealing that goes on, simply because the same Major Holders are involved in each company. Kinda like playing one car dealership against another when they're owned by the same folks.

Notice that less than two percent of the Institutional Holders control 65% of Washington Mututal. And that less than one percent of the Institutional Holders control slightly over 29% of Goldman Sachs? Doesn't look like it takes too many folks to stir things up.

Maybe this is why: Sometimes The Dragon Wins

NOTE: The only intent of these commentaries is to help you with the self-defense of your financial positions. There's no recommendation one way or the other simply because everyone's situation is different. Most folks already know how to kick and punch anyway. My point is to help you block, to think about defense, so you'll have a better idea of exactly what you're getting into. Maybe things will look different to you once you know of these inter-connections; maybe not. Just don't hesitate to click on the links within the tables to fully see these corporate inter-connections.


Symbol Name Of Corporation
WM

Major
Holders
Washington Mutual Inc. (As of 31-Dec-2007)
Top 10 Institutional HoldersShares2007Value2006
Capital World Investors69,730,0008.03%$949,025,300-.--%
Capital Research Global Investors58,868,5506.78%$801,200,965-.--%
Brandes Investment Partners L.P.50,201,6785.78%$683,244,837-.--%
Barrow, Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss, Inc. (Old Mutual)45,047,3195.19%$613,094,011-.--%
Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management, LLC43,488,0925.01%$591,872,932-.--%
Harris Financial Corp35,158,8124.05%$478,511,431-.--%
Franklin Resources, Inc29,357,4213.38%$399,554,499-.--%
Barclays Global Investors UK Holdings Ltd29,247,7623.37%$398,062,040-.--%
Dreman Value Management, L.L.C.27,962,7973.22%$380,573,667-.--%
State Street Corporation27,442,0593.16%$373,486,422-.--%
% of Shares Held by All Insider and 5% Owners:0%-.--%
Top 10 [1.7%] of 574 Institutional Holders Control47.97%-.--%
Percentage of Barclays and "Associates" Control13.96%-.--%
NOTE: Capital Group manages five funds that control 15.12%.
Franklin manages a fund that controls 2.30%.
Therefore, the TOP 10 Major Holders control 65.09%,
Barclays/Associates control 16.26%, and
Capital Group controls 29.93% of Washington Mutual.

Symbol Name Of Corporation
GS

Major
Holders
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (As of 31-Dec-2007)
Top 10 Institutional HoldersShares2007Value2006
Barclays Global Investors UK Holdings Ltd17,075,9284.31%$3,672,178,316-.--%
Marsico Capital Management, LLC14,496,2103.66%$3,117,409,960-.--%
State Street Corporation14,274,7763.61%$3,069,790,578-.--%
Vanguard Group, Inc. (The)11,231,0272.84%$2,415,232,356-.--%
Wellington Management Company, LLP9,760,9432.47%$2,099,090,792-.--%
AXA (Paris, France)9,240,2732.33%$1,987,120,708-.--%
FMR LLC7,831,4921.98%$1,684,162,354-.--%
Janus Capital Management, LLC6,791,8871.72%$1,460,595,299-.--%
Bank of New York Mellon Corporation6,418,0881.62%$1,380,209,824-.--%
Northern Trust Corporation6,357,4111.61%$1,367,161,235-.--%
% of Shares Held by All Insider and 5% Owners:9%-.--%
Top 10 [0.9%] of 1010 Institutional Holders Control26.15%-.--%
Percentage of Barclays and "Associates" Control12.87%-.--%
NOTE: Vanguard manages three funds that control 2.10%.
SPDR Trust controls 0.60%.
Janus Capital manages a fund that controls 0.55%.
Fidelty manages a fund that controls 0.45%.
Therefore, the TOP 10 Major Holders control 29.85%, and
Barclays/Associates control 14.02% of Goldman-Sachs.

© 2008 by Edward Ulysses Cate
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