Goldman Sachs’ CEO David Solomon signed up for a Twitter account 13 years ago.  Since then he doesn’t appear to have posted or used the service – until now. 

According to Bloomberg, Solomon used his X account to direct message Elon Musk as part of Goldman’s effort to win the bid to manage the IPO for SpaceX. 

The firm may reap as much as $500 million in fees from the share sale of $75 billion of equity, valuing the company at $2 trillion.

Sending a DM to Elon certainly didn’t win the business. But it probably didn’t hurt. 

And it’s apparently not something that occurred to the heads of other major financial firms like Jamie Dimon (JPMorgan), Jane Fraser (Citibank) or Ted Pick (Morgan Stanley). 

It’s a memorable anecdote that will be cited for years as part of Goldman lore. 

I give credit to Solomon for not trying to pretend he’s more online than he is. 

According to the article: “Solomon worked with staffers to message Musk directly on X, his social media platform, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified citing private details.”

Note the careful phrasing that he “worked with staffers” to send a message. Normally, you would just say he sent Elon a DM.

Bloomberg said: “Solomon is known for using gimmicks to help win a deal.” They cited the time that Solomon “showed up with a team decked out in Lululemon gear to clinch the mandate for the activewear retailer’s 2007 IPO.”

Even though he never tweets, Solomon is followed by almost 14,000 people, including me. All of us – waiting for a day that may never come – neverthelss want to be prepared.

Solomon follows just 40 accounts on X, an eclectic mix that includes several from his alma mater Hamilton College. 

But to perhaps no one’s surprise one account he does follow is Elon Musk.