• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year

2

Indeed chief economist says we’re entering an era of ‘great mismatch’ thanks to a generational imbalance of workers

3

Apple’s Steve Wozniak says he cofounded the tech giant after 5 rejections from HP—not to ‘make money.’ For years, his paycheck was just $50

1

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year

2

Indeed chief economist says we’re entering an era of ‘great mismatch’ thanks to a generational imbalance of workers

3

Apple’s Steve Wozniak says he cofounded the tech giant after 5 rejections from HP—not to ‘make money.’ For years, his paycheck was just $50
FinanceWall Street

Can Goldman Sachs Tweet its earnings in 140 characters or less?

By
Stephen Gandel
Stephen Gandel
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Stephen Gandel
Stephen Gandel
Down Arrow Button Icon
October 8, 2015, 1:46 PM ET
<h1>Best IPO</h1>
<strong>Twitter</strong>

Last year <a href="http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=TWTR&amp;source=story_quote_link" title="">Twitter</a> paid close attention to <a href="http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=FB&amp;source=story_quote_link" title="">Facebook's</a> troubled IPO and decided to pull a George Costanza: It did everything differently. NYSE over Nasdaq; <a href="http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=GS&amp;source=story_quote_link" title="">Goldman Sachs</a> instead of <a href="http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=MS&amp;source=story_quote_link" title="">Morgan Stanley</a>; the company didn't try to squeeze out every last dollar or let insiders sell; its execs even showed up in Manhattan to ring the opening bell. The result was $1.8 billion in proceeds and a 73% pop on the first day of trading, which went off without a hitch. After years of hearing "Yeah, but how will it make money?" Wall Street emphatically signaled its belief in future revenue growth (plus maybe profitability) for the first large consumer Internet company that can legitimately claim to have been "mobile first." 

<em>--Dan Primack</em>
<h1>Best IPO</h1> <strong>Twitter</strong> Last year <a href="http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=TWTR&amp;source=story_quote_link" title="">Twitter</a> paid close attention to <a href="http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=FB&amp;source=story_quote_link" title="">Facebook's</a> troubled IPO and decided to pull a George Costanza: It did everything differently. NYSE over Nasdaq; <a href="http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=GS&amp;source=story_quote_link" title="">Goldman Sachs</a> instead of <a href="http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=MS&amp;source=story_quote_link" title="">Morgan Stanley</a>; the company didn't try to squeeze out every last dollar or let insiders sell; its execs even showed up in Manhattan to ring the opening bell. The result was $1.8 billion in proceeds and a 73% pop on the first day of trading, which went off without a hitch. After years of hearing "Yeah, but how will it make money?" Wall Street emphatically signaled its belief in future revenue growth (plus maybe profitability) for the first large consumer Internet company that can legitimately claim to have been "mobile first." <em>--Dan Primack</em>

Goldman Sachs has decided its earnings are something to tweet about.

Next week, when the bank releases its third quarter earnings, Goldman (GS) said it won’t do it via Business Wire, the press release service it has long used. Instead, it will use a combination of social media and its own website. The announcement will come via Twitter with a link back to a press release on its own site.

The switch makes sense for Goldman. Tweeting its news and putting it up on its own website should avoid the glitches associated with having a middle man. And Business Wire has proved to be leak prone. Last year, the company had to stop selling a service that offered direct access to high frequency traders after it was highlighted as unfair. In August, the SEC charged a number of traders who got early word on a number of deals via hacks into news services, like Business Wire.

It’s also good news for Twitter, which is still figuring out how to make money. If companies think Twitter is a better place to announce their earnings then, as Matt Levine points out, that should be something that Twitter could charge for. If Business Wire can charge for that service, why can’t Twitter?

Then again, Goldman may be using Twitter because it’s free. Also figuring out what Goldman should be charged to tweet and when it can use the social network service for free might get a little dicey, but it nonetheless is another vote that Twitter has value.

But when it comes to earnings, Goldman and others should be careful what it tweets. Earnings releases are monitored by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Companies are allowed to report earnings as they like, and more and more companies do. But if they decided to use a non-standard way to report profits—say, exclude the cost of stock options, or one-time expenses, which more and more companies are doing—they are required to also disclose earnings figures that comply with standard accounting rules. That’s easy to do in a long press release, but might be harder to do in 140 characters.

 

It’s not clear if the SEC has given Goldman or others guidelines on how to report their earnings on Twitter. The SEC did not return a request for comment. But the fact that Goldman is still putting out a press release should mitigate some of the disclosure issues. And investors will eventually dig through the number.

Still, in the age of high frequency trading, how the bank words its tweet will likely move the stock, and possibly set the tone for how the market reacts to its earnings report. And Goldman might be tempted to gussy up its earnings this quarter. Analysts expect that profits in the third quarter will be down 3% from a year ago, and down 20% from the prior three months. Note to Goldman’s Twitter manager: you might want to focus on the former.

About the Author
By Stephen Gandel
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Finance

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Finance

Oil drops as U.S. says deal with Iran and Hormuz reopening is near
EnergyOil
Oil drops as U.S. says deal with Iran and Hormuz reopening is near
By Nicholas Lua and BloombergMay 24, 2026
8 minutes ago
Russia’s economy is much worse than it seems, and ‘elites are increasingly alarmed’ as alternate GDP gauge shows huge contraction
EconomyRussia
Russia’s economy is much worse than it seems, and ‘elites are increasingly alarmed’ as alternate GDP gauge shows huge contraction
By Jason MaMay 24, 2026
42 minutes ago
Alaska’s oil revival sparks a new energy rush Into the Arctic
EnergyOil
Alaska’s oil revival sparks a new energy rush Into the Arctic
By Jennifer A. Dlouhy and BloombergMay 24, 2026
2 hours ago
SpaceX stock is about to join this growing constellation of public companies building a space-based economy
Investingspace
SpaceX stock is about to join this growing constellation of public companies building a space-based economy
By Jason MaMay 24, 2026
4 hours ago
f
Energyfraud
Nonprofit fraud isn’t surging. Enforcement is
By Sarah Webber and The ConversationMay 24, 2026
8 hours ago
w
Personal FinanceWhite House
From Hobbes to the 14th amendment: the ancient and modern cases against Trump’s $1.8 billion fund
By Austin Sarat and The ConversationMay 24, 2026
8 hours ago

Most Popular

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year
Success
Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year
By Preston ForeMay 21, 2026
3 days ago
Indeed chief economist says we’re entering an era of ‘great mismatch’ thanks to a generational imbalance of workers
Success
Indeed chief economist says we’re entering an era of ‘great mismatch’ thanks to a generational imbalance of workers
By Emma BurleighMay 22, 2026
2 days ago
Apple’s Steve Wozniak says he cofounded the tech giant after 5 rejections from HP—not to ‘make money.’ For years, his paycheck was just $50
Success
Apple’s Steve Wozniak says he cofounded the tech giant after 5 rejections from HP—not to ‘make money.’ For years, his paycheck was just $50
By Preston ForeMay 22, 2026
2 days ago
Uber CEO says rideshare 'freed up' his son from having to get a driver’s license—and he's one of many Gen Zers who aren’t willing to drive
Lifestyle
Uber CEO says rideshare 'freed up' his son from having to get a driver’s license—and he's one of many Gen Zers who aren’t willing to drive
By Sasha RogelbergMay 24, 2026
11 hours ago
Inside the 'stealth wealth' playbook: How Silicon Valley's elite buy multimillion-dollar mansions without leaving a paper trail
Real Estate
Inside the 'stealth wealth' playbook: How Silicon Valley's elite buy multimillion-dollar mansions without leaving a paper trail
By Sydney LakeMay 24, 2026
12 hours ago
Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 
Workplace Culture
Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 
By Preston ForeMay 19, 2026
5 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.