Goldman Sachs posts massive profits

US bank Goldman Sachs has posted third-quarter profits that are more than three times the earnings it made at the same time last year. Goldman, which received billions of dollars in US taxpayer money at the height of the global financial crisis, reported on Thursday that it earned $3.03bn in the July-September period, or $5.25 a share, bettering predictions of $4.24 a share by analysts. The banking giant earned $810m, or $1.81 a share, during its fiscal third quarter of last year, which ended in August. While Goldman usually devotes about 50 per cent of net earnings to pay and benefits, its strong third-quarter performance allowed it to drop the ratio of compensation to revenue to about 43 per cent, while still setting aside $5.4bn. Although the ratio set aside by Goldman for compensation has dropped, employees are still set to get an average of $630,000 each–close to the record amounts paid out to Goldman staff in 2007.