Revenue at Goldman Sachs fell 16 percent to $9.95 billion from $11.9 billion a year earlier, beating the $9.41 billion average estimate of 15 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Book value per share rose to $134.48 from $130.31 at the end of December.

"Our mix of businesses gives the firm significant room for revenue growth as economic and market conditions continue to improve," Blankfein said in the statement.

Value-at-risk, a measure of how much the firm expects it could lose in a single day of trading, dropped to an average of $95 million in the first quarter from $135 million in the fourth quarter.

Return On Equity

Return on equity, a gauge of how well Goldman Sachs reinvests shareholders' earnings, was 12.2 percent. That compares with 14.5 percent in the first quarter of 2011, excluding the dividend to Berkshire.

Operating expenses decreased to $6.77 billion from $7.85 billion a year earlier. Compensation, the biggest expense, declined 16 percent to $4.38 billion from $5.23 billion. The firm employed 32,400 people at the end of March, down from 35,400 people a year earlier.

Institutional securities, the sales and trading division led since January by Isabelle Ealet, Pablo J. Salame, and Harvey M. Schwartz, generated $5.17 billion in revenue during the first quarter. That's down 14 percent from $6.65 billion a year earlier and up from $3.06 billion in the fourth quarter.

Within that division, fixed-income, currency and commodities trading revenue of $3.46 billion compared with $4.33 billion a year earlier and $1.36 billion in the fourth quarter. Equities revenue of $2.25 billion was down from $2.32 billion a year earlier and up from $1.69 billion in the prior quarter.

Investing And Lending

Investing and lending, the segment that includes money made or lost on Goldman Sachs's investments in companies, securities and real estate, generated $1.91 billion of gains in the quarter. That compares with $2.71 billion of gains a year earlier and $872 million in the fourth quarter.

Within that segment was $169 million on the company's stake in Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the nation's largest lender. That holding made $316 million a year earlier and $388 million in the fourth quarter.