Goldman Sachs Donates $150,000 to Team Rubicon Through Quarantunes Fundraiser

By Cynthia Littleton

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Investment banking giant Goldman Sachs has donated $100,000 to the Team Rubicon emergency response organization through the latest installment of the “Quarantunes” fundraising effort spearheaded by WME partner Richard Weitz and his daughter, Demi Weitz.

On Saturday, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon joined the invitation-only Quarantunes Zoom call to announce the donation. As the day’s webcast ended after four and a half hour of performances and talk, donations passed the $450,000 point, including Goldman Sachs’ initial contribution.

The series began last month as a modest effort by Weitz and his 17-year-old daughter to raise $10,000 through a Go Fund Me account to assist front-line health care workers amid the coronavirus outbreak. But the effort quickly grew up in scope.

Richard Weitz has blended his natural love of music with his industry connections to book a series of Zoom calls featuring stripped-down performances from A-list musicians. The gatherings have become a hot ticket amid the extraordinary self-quarantine measures prompted by the COVID-19 outbreak.

On Saturday, performers on the call included John Legend, Rob Thomas, Andra Day, Rick Springfield, Richard Marx, Rick Astley, John Parr, John Rzeznik of Goo Goo Dolls, Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet and R&B veteran Jeffrey Osborne.

After Day performed a solo version of her anthem “Rise Up,” Solomon made a personal donation of another $50,000 to Team Rubicon. “There’s not enough that we can do at this time of crisis,” Solomon said. 

Clive Davis was on hand to introduce Thomas’ performance as he breezed through a medley of hits on an electric keyboard.

The eclectic gathering swelled to more than 700 participants in the first hour. Solomon noted that a number of Goldman Sachs clients had been invited to take in the show.

Demi Weitz told the crowd that the total amount raised through eight Zoom concert calls to date had topped $1.25 million, before Saturday’s additional $450,000.

“My heart has never been so full in my life,” she told the crowd. “It’s so important to give back and do what we can in these really, really hard times.”