THE COSTLIEST RESIGNATION LETTER

Greg Smith (33) had a common name until his Goldman Sachs 1,283-word resignation letter was published in the New York Times' Opinion Page. He was born in South Africa and grew up in Johannesburg, attending King David's Linksfield. He was one of the top 20 matriculants at Gauteng private schools, achieving eight distinctions. The eldest of three children, his parents divorced a few years ago. His father lives in the USA, his mother still lives in Johannesburg and his brother and sister live overseas. In 1993 he won a bronze medal in table tennis at the Maccabiah Games, having played at the Maccabi Linksfield Table Tennis Club and for the Gauteng under-20 team. He carried on with table tennis in New York, socially. Greg and the 1996 King David College head boy Lex Bayer, a good friend of his, both applied for scholarships at Stanford. Both were accepted. Greg joined the investment firm Goldman Sachs after graduating from Stanford 12 years ago. The New York Times article triggered a financial blow to Goldman Sachs as the company lost $2.15 billion of its market value, making Greg's letter worth $1.675 million per word. Shares dropped 3.4%. Greg described the working environment as "toxic and destructive". Instead of "teamwork, integrity, a spirit of humility, and always doing right by our clients," he wrote that making money has become the driving force of all of the firm's decisions, usually at the expense of the client's best interests. He was a vice-president and head of the firm’s United States equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.