Morgan Stanley-Goldman Sachs: End of an era

The writing on the wall became all too clear for Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Surrender now, it read. And so they did. The last two big investment banks have traded in their Ferrari-like business models to become Buick-like bank holding companies. It’s a symbolic end to a Wall Street that was both envied and despised for the wealth at its core. Following the collapse of Bear Stearns, the demise of Lehman Brothers and the fire-sale of Merrill Lynch, quivering markets had turned their feral ...