Chief executives often treat the World Economic Forum in Davos as a chance to air fresh ideas about business and economics.
But for Lloyd C. Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, it was an opportunity to unveil a new look: a beard.
“I always had a beard on vacation, and I’d think to myself, ‘Gosh, wouldn’t it just prolong the vacation if I kept the beard’†Mr. Blankfein explained on CNBC Friday morning.
The beard’s debut on Friday was not entirely unexpected. On Wednesday, Lionel Barber of The Financial Times took to Twitter to report the emergence of facial hair.
A blurry photograph of Mr. Blankfein at Davos surfaced on Thursday, posted online by Arianna Huffington.
On Friday morning, Christine Harper, a reporter for Bloomberg News, offered more detail:
Goldman Sachs’s Blankfein has a beard, which he tells me is the “wrong color†(grey) $GS #DAVOS
â€" Christine Harper (@cr_harper) 25 Jan 13
She continued:
$GS’s Blankfein showed me his driver’s license picture, which shows him with a much thicker and darker beard. #DAVOS
Mr. Blankfein was in Davos to discuss Goldman’s charitable program, 10,000 Women, which was the subject of a blog post with Ms. Huffington. The ! Goldman chief also opined on the state of finance, expressing optimism in the interview with CNBC.
(The No. 2 at Goldman, Gary D. Cohn, had a more sobering message, warning in an interview on Bloomberg TV of a possible “substantial repricing†in debt markets.)
Mr. Blankfein’s beard, in some ways, harkened back to his earlier days at Goldman. After becoming co-president of the firm under Henry M. Paulson Jr., Mr. Blankfein “shaved his beard, lost 50 pounds and quit smoking,†Andrew Ross Sorkin wrote in “Too Big to Fail.â€
Even then, Mr. Blankfein was conscious of his beard’s hue. “My beard turned white and I looked at myself and I thought I was my grandfather,†he said, according to William D. Cohan’s book, “Money and Power: How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World.â€
On Friday, the beard prompted some jests on Twitter:
The Blankfein Beard: I’d say it’s a good 40% of the way to Paul Singer. http://t.co/nYfD8bU7
Mr. Blankfein was asked whether the facial hair had deeper meaning.
“We’re going to have all the strategists at the firm graph it,†he said.
