Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon faces increasing heat over his sharp-elbowed management style, flopped business ventures, and a stampede of top talent out of the firm — and senior bankers are reportedly testing the loyalty of his No. 2 executive.
President and Chief Operating Officer John Waldron has climbed through Goldman’s ranks behind Solomon since joining the firm in 2000, making him CEO-in-waiting of the investment bank.
As partners grow increasingly frustrated over their skimpy bonuses, Solomon’s private jet use, and his side hustle as a DJ, they’re left wondering if Waldron will be able to step out of Solomon’s shadow and forge his own path.
“What do you do if you’re the No. 2?” questioned former Goldman partner Robert Mass, who spent 27 years at the company, according to Bloomberg. “Do you distinguish yourself and show you’re different, or do you show support?”
In July, Waldron sparked rumors of a leadership handoff in a conversation with senior dealmakers in the Hamptons about Goldman’s current challenges, according to Bloomberg.
Waldron said that whoever is at the helm in two years will likely sit atop a much cleaner firm, which triggered a flurry of theories among Goldman bankers as to whether Solomon was planning his handoff, the news service reported.
A company spokesperson told The Post that Waldron’s remarks were misconstrued by colleagues, and he was actually referring to when the firm would deliver more stable returns.
“The leadership team is focused on executing our strategy and the performance of the business, not on speculation,” company spokesperson Tony Fratto said.
Waldron, 54, is reportedly more diplomatic than Solomon, 61, who is no stranger to dismissing critics who aren’t keen on his bold, yet ill-fated foray into consumer banking.
Over the past year, Waldron has been a great listener to colleagues’ qualms, acknowledging their frustrations without blatantly backstabbing his boss, Bloomberg reported.
Solomon and Waldron have old ties that run deep, first working together at Bear Stearns in the early 1990s, where Waldron started his career as an investment-banking analyst as Solomon was already a brusque leader of the firm’s junk bonds division.
Solomon left Bear Stearns for Goldman in 1999 and recruited Waldron to join him at the bank one year later, according to Bloomberg.
In 2018, Goldman’s board named Solomon the head honcho, and he appointed Waldron as the sole president.
Waldron has been a loyal servant to the Wall Street behemoth throughout his 22-year tenure, even turning down a proposition from private equity firm Carlyle Group last year when its CEO Kewsong Lee made a sudden exit from the firm, according to the outlet, making him an obvious candidate for Solomon’s successor.
However, there’s still a chance that Waldron could meet the same fate as Gary Cohn, who served as Goldman’s president and co-COO alongside Solomon starting in 1990.
After spending 26 years at the firm, the top dog spot slipped through Cohn’s fingers and went to Solomon.
Under Solomon’s rule, the 154-year-old bank has shattered all-time records, including in 2021 when Goldman reported a 66% surge in third-quarter earnings, to $5.28 billion, after riding a tidal wave of M&A activity that boosted profits and had the firm struggling to cope with transaction volumes never seen before.
However, the lucrative moment was short-lived, and Solomon has since been recording slumping revenues and flopped business ventures. Last month, Goldman reported dreadful second-quarter earnings, which fell by a whopping 58%.
It was just the latest in a series of brutal earnings reports that saw Goldman’s net income drop 48% year over year in 2022, to $11.3 billion.
As a result, Solomon’s salary was slashed to $25 million — a 30% drop from 2021, and the firm laid off thousands of workers to offset its slumping revenues.
Solomon’s compensation includes an annual $2 million base salary and $23 million in variable compensation — $16.1 million of which is issued in restricted stock units. That means the payment won’t be available for several years, according to a publicly available filing.
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