With the announcement last week that its top seven executives would forgo annual bonuses for 2008, Goldman Sachs continues to demonstrate why it has always stood out from the rest of Wall Street as a leader that represents the best in capitalism. By giving up tens of millions of dollars in compensation, Goldman’s chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, its co-presidents, Gary Cohn and Jon Winkelried, and their colleagues understand that in tough times, leadership by example matters. Indeed, their willingness to give up money that they rightly deserve—these are the executives, after all, who deftly steered Goldman through the storm as peers such as Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch crashed and foundered on the rocks—proves why brilliant managers deserve big bucks when their companies have a good year.  read more »

Here’s how you know the commercial-mortgage-backed securities market is in deep slumber: Goldman Sachs, king of the Wall Street shops, hasn’t originated a CMBS loan in nine months, according to two sources close to the bank.

It’s no secret that banks like Wachovia and Lehman and UBS are no longer issuing securities backed by mortgages with the ease of missionaries distributing Gideon Bibles. Investors have had to start hitting up balance-sheet lenders, like regional banks, and cobbling together smaller loans. But Goldman? Goldman is one of the few investment banks that actually has a CMBS crew in place on Wall Street.  read more »

Insurance giant AIG has assumed the remainder of Goldman Sachs’ lease at 180 Maiden Lane, which, at 800,000 square feet, is the largest lease transaction so far in 2008.

“We will consolidate several AIG offices in Manhattan to 180 Maiden Lane,” said a source familiar with the deal.  read more »

Goldman Sachs, the world's largest investment bank, is set to report on Tuesday a record annual profit of $11 billion, according to news reports this morning. More importantly for New York City and its real estate market, the average Goldman Sachs year-end bonus is expected to average an astounding $600,000 per employee--about double the average paid at other firms.

Stephen Ross’s Related Companies is receiving an infusion of $1.4 billion from investors, including Goldman Sachs and investment firms from the Middle East, according to an article in today’s Wall Street Journal [subscription].

The firm is apparently now worth about $5 billion, the Journal tells us:  read more »

Editor's note: This is an update to an earlier breaking news story.

A construction accident at the site of Goldman Sachs’ new world headquarters downtown injured one worker this morning, as a crane dropped a seven-ton cargo load on a trailer, according to preliminary reports from the Fire Department and Department of Buildings.  read more »

The Associated Press is reporting that an architect has been injured in an accident at the Goldman Sachs tower, currently under construction by the World Trade Center site.

A crane dropped a load of metal rods and sheet rock onto a trailer, injuring an unnamed architect. The condition of the worker was not released, according to the report.  read more »

Women's Wear Daily is reporting this morning that Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Goldman Sachs Group are preparing a $24 billion bid to buy the Macy's retail chain.

According to WWD, a bid was expected last weekend, and both parties want to finalize a deal in time for Macy's investors' meetings scheduled for July 23:  read more »