Former Goldman Sachs executive Greg Smith, who resigned this month via a scathing op-ed in the New York Times, has triggered a media bidding war for his memoir of life inside the belly of the Wall Street beast.
One top editor said he believed the auction was already nearing the magic $1 million mark.
Smith is being represented by Paul Fedorko at N.S. Bienstock, an agency that specializes in reality TV shows and news personalities. Fedorko didn’t return calls for comment.
Others in the publishing industry were a little more skeptical.
“It could go either way,” said another top editor who is not involved in the bidding when asked if the auction could crack $1 million. “There’s some big upside potential as well as some downside.”
Smith’s resignation letter published March 14 became an instant sensation, praised by some but sharply criticized by others, including Mayor Mike Bloomberg, whose personal fortune was derived by catering to many of the very people that Smith was condemning.
Smith, a South African native, rose through Goldman’s ranks to become an executive director, but resigned because of what he called the “toxic and destructive” environment that he says now plagues the company, where profits allegedly trump client interests.
He also said many of the top brass referred to their clients as “muppets” — a British term for a fool.