Goldman to release results on website, drops BusinessWire - source

By Olivia Oran

(Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc will not release its third-quarter earnings report next week through Warren Buffett's BusinessWire, a person familiar with the matter said.

The bank will release its results on its website and on Twitter as it wants to have more control over the release of sensitive financial information, the person told Reuters on Thursday.

Goldman's decision follows recent events in which some newswire services inadvertently sent out client information early or were targeted by hackers.

BusinessWire, owned by Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc, could not immediately be reached for comment. Goldman declined to comment.

The U.S. Department of Justice charged nine people in August for hacking three leading newswire services: San Francisco-based Business Wire, Marketwired and PR Newswire. (http://1.usa.gov/1VGyK8U)

The hackers stole more than 150,000 unpublished press releases containing financial information that was then used to make trades, allegedly generating about $30 million in illegal profits, the DOJ said.

BusinessWire said at the time that it was cooperating with the DOJ investigation.

Goldman is often at the forefront when it comes to Wall Street's presence in social media. The bank's former technology banker, Anthony Noto, is now Twitter's chief financial officer.

The bank rolled out a series of recruiting ads on Snapchat last month, becoming the first major U.S. lender to turn to the instant-but-fleeting messaging app for potential hires.

(Reporting by Olivia Oran in New York, Additional reporting by Richa Naidu in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)