Goldman Partner Ditches Pursuit of Quants for Marijuana Startup

  • Mike Blum is joining company opening weed dispensaries
  • Goldman consumer-banking tech chief Jeff Winner also exits
An employee holds PharmaCannis products at a store.Photographer: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg
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Mike Blum was supposed to revolutionize the way Goldman Sachs did business with the fastest-trading hedge funds. He ended up leaving for a marijuana startup.

Blum -- one of several senior technology executives who departed the bank in recent days -- is joining cannabis provider PharmaCann as its tech chief. It’s a bit of a departure from his previous role overseeing Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s ambitious overhaul of an electronic-trading platform that the Wall Street firm hopes will win more business with quant hedge funds.