Goldman CEO notes profit daily

Goldman Sachs Group Inc Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein checks his bank’s profit daily, prefers voice mail to e-mail and makes unscheduled calls to board members at times of market “uncertainty.”

His testimony at the insider trading trial of Raj Rajaratnam was intended by prosecutors to show how one of those board members, Rajat Gupta, who served in 2007 and 2008, passed on information he learned from the board. Blankfein’s 3-1/2 hours on the witness stand yesterday before a packed Manhattan federal courtroom also included a few questions about the CEO’s personal life.

“Where did you grow up?” Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Michaelson asked Blankfein, who wore a blue tie, dark suit and white shirt. “Brooklyn,” the 56-year-old CEO replied.

“Where did you go to high school?” Michaelson asked. “Thomas Jefferson High School, East New York, Brooklyn,” Blankfein said.

No other witness during the three-week trial has been asked such questions. Prosecutors painted a picture of a CEO who grew up in an outer borough of New York City to eventually run the fifth-biggest US bank by assets. Along with asking him about his roots, Michaelson explored his management style. Blankfein, who responded in a deferential fashion, testified he checks the firm’s “p-and-l,” or profit and loss, daily and relies mainly on voice mail. In times of market stress, he said he likes to have one-on-one conversations with board members. An e-mail shown to jurors referred to such talks as “just-checking-in-calls.”