Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon will whack 3% to 5% of its workforce — including scores of under-performing vice presidents — as part of the Wall Street giant’s annual round of layoffs, The Post has learned.
The layoffs would equate to more than 1,395 job cuts from the bank’s global workforce of 46,500 at the end of December. The last time the firm conducted a similar review in September, it made smaller reductions.
The bank’s overall headcount will remain the same because it plans to bring new hires on board later this year, insiders told The Post.
“Like other banks, this is part of our normal, annual talent management process. We don’t comment on the specifics in any given year,” a Goldman spokesperson said.
Those who are about to get the boot were given either poor annual reviews last year or smaller-than-expected bonuses this year in a thinly-veiled suggestion for them to seek employment elsewhere, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the cuts
Multiple Goldmanites previously told The Post that they believed their compensation had been pared back to boost the bank’s bottom line.
Solomon, who got a 26% pay hike last year to rake in $39 million in compensation, has looked to refocus Goldman’s business on its traditional investment banking and asset management activities after a mixed foray into consumer banking.
He is also having to carefully navigate the firm’s move to rollback so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion policies amid the threat of lawsuits from the Trump administration’s Department of Justice, as The Post exclusively reported.
Last week, Goldman tapped Solomon’s long-time confidante, chief operating officer John Waldron, to join the bank’s board of directors.
The move to elevate the 55-year-old moneyman was seen on Wall Street as part of Solomon’s succession planning.
Waldron’s 2024 compensation has not yet been disclosed but both men were handed “golden handcuffs” bonuses of $80 million that will fully vest in 2030.
The revelations came in January after Goldman announced that its profits soared to $14 billion in 2024, compared with $8.5 billion a year earlier.
During that earnings call, Solomon, who took over from Lloyd Blankfein in 2018, hinted at possible cuts, saying there were “significant opportunities to drive further efficiencies.”
While the bank was buoyed by a successful fourth quarter in terms of deal-making, the Wall Street veteran warned that uncertainty remained over Trump’s immigration, trade, and tax policies.
Speaking at an event in Sydney, Australia on Tuesday, Solomon said the commander-in-chief’s tariffs on Canada, China, and Mexico are designed “to level the playing field aggressively,”
The 63-year-old has presided over a year-long surge in the bank’s stock price, rising from $392.25 a share last year and peaking at 672.19 on Feb. 18.
Goldman stock closed at 581.14 on Tuesday.
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