GS will take every bit of blame on this, it is an investment bank, it is THEIR JOB to estimate it right.
GE is not liable for anything, GS is as an investment company of its recommendations...
In the investment world, when this kind of ******** happens, the investment bank takes the blame but cuts the company's recommendation back in return for not being straight forward in advance. It is all about managing the expectations, if you can not manage the expectations as a company, the investors will not like this and the intermediary will not like this, although they will take the responsibility of not being accurate to the investors. Of course, nothing gets paid, but it does reflect bad on the investment bank before the company since the investors' interface is the investment bank, not the company. The investors are paying the fees exactly to avoid this ********...
Edited by arbman, 11 April 2008 - 11:47 AM.