Goldman Sachs executive turned muppets’ rights advocate Greg Smith, who jumped into the spotlight earlier this month by resigning from the firm via the New York Times op-ed page, has been shopping a book around. According to the Post, his words are now worth quite a bit more than $150-per-column: Apparently, the proposal has triggered a bidding war among publishers that could reach the $1 million mark — more than Smith’s annual Goldman salary, which, as some detractors pointed out, was “only” $500,000 to $750,000. So, assuming he has committed himself to the goal of putting out a book every year, this whole thing could actually turn out to be a good financial move for him.
Meanwhile, the episode could also prompt a career change for CEO Lloyd Blankfein. In the wake of all this bad press, some shareholders are asking that Blankfein be replaced in order to “repair [Goldman’s] reputation and reduce the potential for conflicts of interest.”
