要問(wèn)最新一位加入“利潤(rùn)至上”小團(tuán)體的企業(yè)家是誰(shuí)？是高盛的首席執(zhí)行官蘇德巍（David Soloman）。多年以來(lái)，高盛集團(tuán)輕利潤(rùn)，不計(jì)一切代價(jià)換取業(yè)務(wù)增長(zhǎng)，然而現(xiàn)在蘇德巍幡然醒悟，原來(lái)應(yīng)該利潤(rùn)至上。

在經(jīng)歷了投資Uber和WeWork失敗后，蘇德巍接受彭博社記者采訪表示：“人的成長(zhǎng)當(dāng)然很重要，但對(duì)盈利渠道的認(rèn)識(shí)也越來(lái)越透徹。”蘇德巍認(rèn)為，市場(chǎng)規(guī)范發(fā)揮的作用也比以前多。

高盛對(duì)Uber、Avantor和Tradeweb Markets等公司的股權(quán)投資損失2.67億美元。在WeWork的IPO計(jì)劃失敗后，高盛已經(jīng)對(duì)持有的WeWork股權(quán)損失了8000萬(wàn)美元。上季度也成為高盛三年多來(lái)業(yè)績(jī)最慘淡的一個(gè)季度。

蘇德巍指出：“橫掃全球的貨幣政策實(shí)際上是在逼迫人們?nèi)ッ半U(xiǎn)，強(qiáng)迫大家尋找其他方式獲得收益，其中備受追崇的方式之一便是追求增長(zhǎng)，某種程度上來(lái)說(shuō)是不計(jì)代價(jià)求增長(zhǎng)。當(dāng)下的市場(chǎng)狀況在警示人們，該收手了。”

蘇德巍將WeWork當(dāng)成資本市場(chǎng)是否正常運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)的風(fēng)向標(biāo)。在WeWork嘗試IPO失敗之前，我早就寫(xiě)過(guò)該觀點(diǎn)。在4月的一篇專(zhuān)欄中，我提到只要有長(zhǎng)期增長(zhǎng)的潛力，投資者對(duì)短期沒(méi)有利潤(rùn)還是愿意寬容。針對(duì)我的觀點(diǎn)，《Term Sheet》專(zhuān)欄的一位讀者發(fā)來(lái)了回應(yīng)：

“公司一旦開(kāi)始追求利潤(rùn)，必定會(huì)出現(xiàn)拐點(diǎn)，他們通常揮動(dòng)定價(jià)大棒，信奉成王敗寇，即便沒(méi)有這么夸張至少也會(huì)接近。因?yàn)槿绻悴贿@樣做，就無(wú)法發(fā)展業(yè)務(wù)，道理就是這么簡(jiǎn)單。”

我們也開(kāi)始追求利潤(rùn)了。上個(gè)月，Trinity Venture 的帕特里西婭·納卡什就指出私募資本市場(chǎng)已經(jīng)掉轉(zhuǎn)方向，不計(jì)代價(jià)追求增長(zhǎng)。現(xiàn)在，公開(kāi)市場(chǎng)參與進(jìn)來(lái)并直接指出增長(zhǎng)的代價(jià)已經(jīng)太大。她在《財(cái)富》最具影響力的商界女性峰會(huì)上表示：“私有資本市場(chǎng)從一個(gè)極端走向另一個(gè)極端，本身就是錯(cuò)誤。”（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：艾倫

審校：夏林

?

The latest financier to get on the “pivoting to profit” bandwagon? Goldman Sachs’s CEO David Solomon. After years and years of companies pursuing revenue growth at all costs and putting profit on the backburner, Solomon is the latest to have the epiphany that profit matters.

Stung by Uber and WeWork, Solomon told Bloomberg that “it’s important for people to grow, but there’s got to be a clear and articulated path to profitability.” He added that he thinks there’s a little more market discipline coming into play.

Goldman Sachs lost $267 million on public equity investments such as Uber, Avantor, and Tradeweb Markets. Its stake in WeWork fell by $80 million after the company’s failed IPO plan. Last quarter was Goldman’s worst performance in more than three years.

Solomon said: “The monetary policy that has been ramping around the world has basically forced people out on the risk curve, has forced people to look for other ways to drive returns, and one of the things they’ve been chasing is growth and to some degree growth at all costs. The market here is speaking and telling people here, let’s rein that in a little bit.”

Solomon used WeWork as a signifier that capital markets were functioning properly. I’ve been writing about this way before the WeWork implosion. In an April column, I pointed out that investors are willing to overlook profitability so long as there’s a promise for long-term growth. In response, one Term Sheet reader wrote:

“There has to be an inflection point when a company swings to profitability, typically by wielding pricing power in a winner-take-all market, or at least continues inching closer to it. If you don’t have that, you don’t have a business. Plain and simple.”

Oh, and we’ve swung. Trinity Ventures’ Patricia Nakache said last month that the private markets have swung way out toward growth at all costs. Now, public markets have weighed in and resoundingly said that this has gone too far. “It’s a mistake in private markets to go from extreme to extreme,” she said at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit.