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Goldman Sachs is going back to its penthouse after realizing that it can’t really generate fees banking people who push a plow.

After a year that has seen the totemic investment bank hemorrhage capital, slash headcount at a record pace, and start its second massive reorganization in less than four years, suddenly embattled CEO David Solomon made it clear that his team will go back to focusing on its artisanal bread and Irish butter: rich folks.

The financial services giant held its second-ever live investor day on Tuesday. The event is supposed to feel like a company pep rally, but the vibe was dampened after Goldman posted its worst quarter in more than a decade. Now it finds itself with profits being cut in half, a bloated corpse of a consumer business, and a chief executive believed to be hanging onto his job with the same fingertips he uses to spin EDM records in his downtime.

But while Solomon made every effort to quell the concerns of shareholders — and the dissent inside Goldman’s ranks — his plans for the latest pivot in his four-year reign were met with confusion. Solomon and his deputies were clear that Wall Street’s whitest shoe bank once again sees asset and wealth management as its best growth option, but simultaneously indicated that they are both committed to its credit card and lending businesses and considering “strategic alternatives” for the entire consumer portfolio. That’s finance-speak for “selling.”

The muddled messaging is not what Goldman or Solomon need right now as it tries to share some good news:

After being pressed multiple times to give more clarity on the fate of the consumer business Tuesday, Solomon found himself admitting aloud that “I know that everyone wants answers to things.”

How You Like Them Poisoned Apples? One person who likely watched Goldman’s day with bemusement was former co-COO, Harvey Schwartz. After competing with Solomon for the top job in 2018, Schwartz departed in 2019 and spent a few years licking his wounds on various boards, but as Solomon’s tenure sours, Schwartz is back, having taken the reins at the $373 billion investment firm Carlyle on February 15.

– Thornton McEnery

(Photo Credit: Ana Lanza/Unsplash)

Turns out the CHIPS Act comes with silicon strings attached.

On Tuesday, the Commerce Department announced any company looking to get a piece of the $53 billion pie made available through the Chips and Science Act will not see one penny unless they meet strict requirements like limiting their stock buybacks and not doing business in “countries of concern” – i.e. China – for a decade, Bloomberg reported.

The CHIPS Act is just one element of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, aimed at invigorating green tech and manufacturing stateside instead of relying on other nations to produce things like batteries, phones, and cars. In this case, it’s precious semiconductor chips, small, fragile circuits that power nearly everything. The US invented semiconductors but today it relies on countries like China, Taiwan, and Malaysia to produce them. Now Washington wants to bring them home.

Groups like Intel, Texas Instruments, and Samsung plan to split the $39 billion set aside in the legislation for capital projects and build new US-based facilities. The maker of the world’s most advanced chips, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing — which saw its net income increase 60% last year to $34 billion — is already constructing a plant in Arizona, so it might be tough for it to reach the White House’s requirement of explaining why a company needs the money as opposed to why it wants it.

The government will start accepting applications this month, a process that involves a thorough review process and strict guidelines that could frighten off some applicants:

“I suspect a lot of companies are going to have to work harder than they thought they would in order to receive the funding,” Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo told Bloomberg.

Get Off My (buy)Back: Perhaps the biggest stick in the proverbial craw is the government’s stance on stock buybacks: It doesn’t like ‘em, no matter what Warren Buffett thinks. Beyond CHIPS recipients needing to limit spending on their own shares, the government will “require all applicants to detail their intentions with respect to stock buybacks over five years.” Since 2005, Intel has spent roughly $110 billion acquiring its own shares, which might have put smiles on investors’ faces but could lead Washington to keep its wallet closed unless the practice is under tighter control.

-Griffin Kelly

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The UK wants its gamblers to know that the house always wins. Like, seriously, it always wins.

But now the government is hoping to even the odds, just a little bit, by getting the word out about the perils of addiction. A long-delayed public health white paper reviewing the legalized gambling industry is expected to soon drop in the UK — complete with a litany of sweeping reform proposals.

It doesn’t take a public health expert to know gambling can be addictive but compared to other vices like cigarettes or alcohol, gambling hasn’t exactly faced the same level of scrutiny or regulation for how it markets itself to potential customers. In the UK, online gambling is also becoming increasingly popular: A recent survey from the country’s Gambling Commission found respondents both male and female and across virtually every age group participate in online gambling at higher rates than just four years ago.

And it’s becoming a public health problem. A YouGov poll found that 1.4 million British adults, or roughly 3%, were “problem gamblers.” Unsurprisingly, the same group represents gambling company’s best customers:

Check Yourself: Another proposal being floated, according to the FT: automatic “affordability” and credit checks for users who lose up to £125 a month or £500 annually, though the complexity of such an undertaking likely means the proposed regulation will be watered down. In other words, what happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas. But what happens on an app on your smartphone, well, that follows you everywhere.

– Brian Boyle