Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) reported Thursday that the banking giant earned $4.79 billion in the fourth quarter, according to Associated Press.
The company cited its trading business as the source of their success this quarter as it topped the financial industry.
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Goldman said Wednesday it earned $8.20 a share in the last three months of the year, which exceeded Wall Street expectations. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters predicted Goldman would earn $5.20 a share.
For the full year, Goldman earned $13.4 billion, almost as much as $15 billion earned by the five other big national banks combined.
Despite its big profit, Goldman's compensation costs came in well below the record $20.2 billion the bank paid to employees in 2007. Goldman said reduced its compensation pool by $500 million in the fourth quarter and put the money in the bank's newly created charity.
Goldman Sachs received $10 billion in bailout funds and was one of the first to repay the money last year.
Aggressive trading drove Goldman's earnings yet again. The bank earned $6.41 billion in revenue from its trading and principal investments unit, down from $10.3 billion in the third quarter of 2009.
Investment banking revenue, which is considered the foundation of the company's business, rose to $1.64 billion, up 58 percent from the fourth quarter of 2008 during the height of the financial crisis and 82 percent higher than the third quarter.
Goldman's underwriting business had $962 million in revenue, more than double the same period a year ago. The bank attributed the increase in equity underwriting to higher revenues from initial public offerings in the quarter.
The company spent $16.2 billion in salaries and bonuses for 2009, up 47 percent from the previous year but still lower than many had expected.
Shares of Goldman Sachs dropped $4.44, or 2.6 percent, to $163.35 in morning trading on Thursday.
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