Partners at Goldman Sachs want CEO Solomon out
Per Business Insider (for what it's worth): "At Goldman Sachs, there's unrest at the highest levels. Some partners have discussed complaining about CEO David Solomon to the board."
https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-par…
The degree of dissatisfaction inside Goldman has gotten to the point where some partners have discussed how they might spur action from the firm's board of directors, according to four people who have spoken to these partners. Some of them have even considered bringing their concerns directly to the board, though they haven't yet, in part, because they see Goldman's board as insular and out-of-touch with the day-to-day conditions of the firm, two of them said.
It's not clear how widespread this discontent is. Goldman has some 400 partners.
Still, these people are already talking about who might possibly replace Solomon if it comes to that. Some have identified Richard Gnodde, the head of international and an investment banker in the traditional Goldman mold, as one such possibility, one of the people said. John Waldron, Goldman's president and chief operating officer, is seen by some as being too close to Solomon and his strategy.
The unhappy insiders are up in arms after Goldman lost more than $6 billion on an ill-fated push into consumer banking, cut 3,200 jobs, and slashed the partner's compensation pool by some 50%, according to nearly a dozen current or former partners. Morale took another hit when the board gave Solomon a 2022 compensation package that was down just 29%.
Too consumed with spinning on the weekends
I find this unsurprising, I dont think Solomon is good for the GS brand and he clearly isnt helping the P&L.
I think there's also an aspect the company feels like they can't get rid of him too. They don't want him going somewhere else for a variety of reasons (reputation, taking other people, etc.) so they keep him where he is and try to promote John Waldren as the main operator. See similar with Lloyd, where he occupied / occupies nebulous Senior Chairman role and remained a part of the brand after his official retirement.
I have no clue really why they feel this way since I don't think that this feeling is based in anything especially material that could damage the company or brand of the company.
If those are in fact the reasons Goldman chooses to retain him, the rationale is as poor as it gets.
What fool follows Solomon and leaves GS because the ex-CEO is asked to step down? Surely there are few (if any) rainmaker MDs that have that level of loyalty.
It is well known that Solomon isnt the right man for the job so their reputation is being further tarnished every second GS continues to allow him to act as their leader.
I think your argument is well taken but that GS might full of too many old school board members to accept that it is time to acknowledge Solomon was the wrong guy for the job and replace him.
I know what Lloyd is doing next. I'm the reason for it lol
Waldron does not get it. Waldron is team Solomon so if Dave is out so is John bc why promote a worse Solomon? Partners will want classical banker who wants to double down on investment banking and kill the dog that is Marcus. Board prob loves the idea of Marcus being able to re-rate gs multiple like Gorman did with WM at MS so they might still want to back that effort
Insane that such a big bank, one that is probably considered by most to be the 'best' in some vague sense, would not have the foresight to have a completely separate pool of money to cover the losses from something as big as going into consumer banking, a space that is for the most part already dominated by everyone else so had a relatively high probability of failure/underperformance.
Makes you think. The greatest financial minds of our time are probably not found in any of these dino banks.
Board members and c-suite execs should keep this in mind the next time they consider paying $10m to GS for 'advice'.
look how shitty GSAM is as well , they need to stick to their strengths
Don’t know whether this is troll or not.
What is the alternative to Marcus? As in GS will not be competitive otherwise (read my post below?
ECL It is a reserve, jump in credit risk just reclassified 12m ECL —> life time ECL and Marcus loan portfolio was a longer wal then competitor rate as it is a new market entrant
I kinda respect your loyalty to your bank to the point that you feel like you must defend it on a meme forum. I mean, I've said vague things like 'I like the place I work at' but never have I said 'This is the exact place I work at and actually the CEO's moves have been perfect so far'. They must treat you well. That, or you are one of D Sol's burner accounts.
Regardless of that, I am not trying to criticize the strategic move itself. God knows that if I could have my own bank, I'd choose a consumer bank over an investment bank any day of the week. IB makes more money, but you actually have to work. Just creating loans in a fictional balance sheet and then collecting interest... now that is what I call some passive fucking income. That shit can literally run itself, make me a billionaire, and I can still do whatever else on the side if I am so inclined.
What I am criticizing is that they did not properly prepare for underperformance. So much so that they allowed its underperformance to damage the bonus pool of other divisions. And even if you say that this is not true or slightly misleading, then at the very least he should not have allowed for there to be the perception of this having been the case. He is the CEO. It is not only about not fucking up, it is also about actively showing everyone that you are, in fact, not fucking up. Even negative perception can kill a stock that would have otherwise been fine.
Seems like their eye is becoming increasingly off the ball. Clients are somewhat beholden to them for the stamp of approval so not sure how much it’ll effect them in near term but idk why this guy is deviating so much from a successful blueprint.
d-sol running on fumes rn
Apropos of absolutely nothing, I enjoy imagining Goldman as this evil jet black skyscraper, surrounded by rain clouds and lightening, filled with nameless faceless geniuses pulling financial strings globally. On that basis alone, I can't have the CEO twilight as "DJ D-Sol".
Think the old twitter account @GoldmanSuchs
Sol needs to go. He lacks preftige.
As a gs employee this is hilarious to watch.
Partners (a lot of whom underperformed, entire IBD and FICC, beside few commods trading desks) all cut first year analysts (instead of vps) as a protest vs. David Solomon and then turn around and have the audacity to say they want him out, and are up in arms about bonus pool being cut. Let me reiterate, at least 10-20 partners took home +30m last year
Dave is doing what you have to when your cost of capital is your main issue. GS was late to private credit space and now they are playing catch up vs DB (with a shit ton of deposits).
Marcus was the right move. There is no real ROE stability at gs, where else do you want to get it from?
1. GMD, yeah run 0 risk and good luck with rhe p&l!
2. IBD - yeah sure cuz IBD didn’t just loose more than half of its revenue this year, barred from financing team.
3. AMD - yeah sure good luck competing with Ubs and CS for your clients ! A lot of catch up to do. on private side, I mean yeah… on balance sheet(through lp stakes in their funds) will surely not require you to hold any equity against it, oh wait ……
Gnodde or any non-us guy is never becoming CEO of Goldman Sachs fyi. US office dominates the firm, look at how cucked salisbury got during the IBD GMD merger.
Cut analysts instead of VPs in protest? Not sure I follow. What’s the background there?
Not cutting costs but headcount
Considering I know a GS partner, I would not be at all surprised if he would fire more people to make more money via the bonus pool. Always came off as super fake and definitely was money/power hungry no matter how hard he tried to portray himself as frugal and humble with my extended family (our families know each other for at least a generation or two).
Is GS partner comp public?
Yeah GS partners are all incredible at telling you one thing and do the other thing behind your back.
partners did this to only cut headcount without cutting costs (which the whole reason for why you cut people. Don’t cut the balance sheet heavy VPs who generate nothing and cut analysts). They just want to make it clear to David that they don’t want to make life easy for him
stop the cap
it looks cringe
dm me and add me on linkedin looool
Oh man you work in SLC? Cmon dude
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