The rich are getting filthy rich again. Investment bank Goldman Sachs paid $2.58 billion US for a stake in Chinese bank ICBC in April. Today ICBC went public. Goldman's shares are worth $7.48 billion. That's nearly a $5 billion gain for six months work!

Not too long ago, Goldman made a $3.7 billion gain from a stake in Japanese bank Sumitomo Mitsui. They paid about $1.3 billion for it.

Goldman has 287 partners globally and they're likely paid an average of 5 million pounds according to one article. However, they can invest in Goldman's principal/proprietary transactions like ICBC. In the world of high finance, a game available only to the rich, the rich keep getting richer.