In the era of President Donald Trump, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein wants to make sure his company isn’t misunderstood.
That’s why the 62-year-old executive took to Twitter for the very first time following President Trump’s decision to exit the Paris Climate Agreement earlier this month, according to a Monday interview Blankfein gave to Jim Cramer on CNBC’s Mad Money.
Following Trump’s announcement, Blankfein took to Twitter to say that Trump’s decision “is a setback for the environment and for the U.S.’s leadership position in the world.”
Since then, the CEO has tweeted every few days about infrastructure, former GE CEO Jeff Immelt’s retirement, and immigration. The CEO has had the account since 2011 and had been under pressure to tweet from the handle for some time, according to Politico.
Blankfein said he chose the Paris Agreement for his Twitter debut in order to avoid a mistake Goldman Sachs made during the financial crisis.
“In the financial crisis, nobody knew what Goldman Sachs did, the value we create, what we do in the communities,” Blankfein told Cramer. “And I said if this ever happens again, I’m not going to allow there to be a vacuum about what we’re like. We’re going to have to communicate to the world what we do.”
During the financial crisis, Goldman Sachs was not only vilified for its role in the economic downturn, but it later paid a hefty $5.1 billion fine for it. And while it’s not exactly the same, the bank has recently been at the center of protests following Trump’s election, as many of the president’s recommended appointees are Goldman Sachs alumni.
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When Cramer noted that three out of six of Blankfein’s tweets were “antagonistic to the president,” the CEO said that his tweets have to meet certain criteria.
“Either it’s something that is kind of in our wheelhouse of expertise,” he said, or “the other thing I’ll comment on is when things really affect the ability of our people to be who they are and to do their job and to be effective as professionals.” Blankfein pointed to his stance on immigration and LGBT rights as an example.
