John Lawson Thornton (born January 2, 1954) is an American businessman and professor and director of the Global Leadership Program at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Thornton was Chairman of Goldman Sachs Asia from 1996 to 1998, where he expanded the firm's regional franchise during the Asian financial crisis.
A board ethics whistle-blower described Goldman's role in the bank's activities with Ford as being "the umpire and pitcher in the same game".
The investigation revealed that copper and silver were also under-reported, and sulfur, iron, iridium, titanium and zinc were present, but not accounted for.
[27] Shortly after Thornton's deal with Magufuli was announced, Acacia's top executives – CEO Brad Gordon, CFO Andrew Wray and COO Mark Morcombe, under whose tenure relations with the Tanzanian government had deteriorated – resigned.
In January 2020, Barrick formalized a joint venture with the Tanzanian government covering the North Mata, Bulyanhulu and Buzwagi mines.
[29] On September 24, 2018, Barrick Gold[3] announced plans to acquire London-listed Randgold Resources in a transformational deal valued at more than $6.5 billion.
[33] In February 2019, Barrick Gold announced a hostile $19 billion bid to acquire Newmont Mining Corporation, an American company based in Denver, Colorado.
[47] By the time Thornton left his position at Goldman, the bank had become the lead underwriter for major Chinese state-owned companies.
[54] He is also listed as Chairman of the Board of the Silk Road Finance Corporation [55] Thornton was a senior consultant[56] for the Confucius Institute.
[58] In September 2017, Thornton helped arrange a meeting between Steve Bannon and Wang Qishan, Thornton's friend and former head of the China Construction Bank and the current Vice President of the People's Republic of China,[59] at the Communist Party's Zhongnanhai headquarters a few weeks after Bannon was forced out of his advisory role in President Donald Trump's administration.
[63] In September 2021, George Soros, Hungarian-Born American investor and philanthropist, criticized Thornton in a The Wall Street Journal opinion editorial, saying that Thornton's work to funnel U.S. investment dollars to China "imperils the national security interests of the U.S. and other democracies because the money invested in China will help prop up President Xi's regime, which is repressive at home and aggressive abroad".
[70] Thornton developed a friendship with Enkhbayar, who was arrested in April 2012 by Mongolia's anti-corruption commission after being accused of misuse of state property while in office.
[71] Thornton played a key role in a campaign led by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)[72] to gain international support for Enkhbayar, who had been convicted by a government court in August 2012.
The newspaper noted Thornton has "overseen a massive overhaul at Toronto-based Barrick" following which the company "has shed billions of dollars of debt and generated excellent financial results.
[81] In 2011, The Wall Street Journal reported on the vast water consumption of wealthy Palm Beach residents during exceptional drought conditions.