Goldman Sachs' IPO: 12 Years Later

It's been 12 years since the elite, secretive, undisputed powerhouse on Wall Street called Goldman Sachs & Co. went public, and today, while the bank might be older, slower, more than slightly beaten down, and much more similar to its public competitors than it was a decade ago, one thing remains the same: it's still the unidisputed investment banking champion of the world.

The reason for this is quite simple: the partnership.

That is, reaching the holy Goldman Sachs partnership grail -- even after all of the Matt Taibbi-scribed Rolling Stone articles, pompous mentions of doing God's work, unethical if not illegal Abacus-like deals, SEC settlements, Facebook fiascos, etc. -- is still the dream of many a young, hungry and budding investment banker.

In fact, the firm formerly known as a private company has ranked as the most prestigious investment bank to work for in every one of Vault's banking surveys (including our North American, European, and Asian surveys) since we started ranking banks more than 10 years ago.

(DealBook: A Once Tight Flock at Goldman, Now Scattered)

(Related: Has Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein Become a Liability?, Rolling Stone Writer Scribes Another Scathing Piece on Goldman "Squid" Sachs)