As Goldman Sachs prepares to host its second-ever investor day, there’s grumbling over the bank’s struggles under CEO David Solomon – with some bankers saying the boss’s bonus should have shrunk more than it did.
As Solomon lays out his vision for the Wall Street giant at the Tuesday shindig, many are still chafing over their disappointing year-end payouts — and fixing the blame on their part-time DJ CEO, sources told On The Money.
“The partners took a massive pay hit. They got 50% less this year partly because of David’s failed ideas,” one source who spoke on the condition of anonymity told The Post. “Solomon only took a 30% cut. Why didn’t he take the same hit the partners took?”
After weathering a scary round of layoffs that claimed more than 3,200 last month, the firm’s surviving partners are obviously frustrated over the state of their bank accounts. But some also fret they’ve lost credibility with junior employees, whose meager bonuses were a slap in the face after a year of hundred-hour work weeks, sources added.
“Even in bad times, executives have always said, ‘Let’s pay the kids,’” the source added. “The deal is you work your ass off and get paid at the end of the year. It’s embarrassing for the partners that their junior employees didn’t get paid.”
For some employees at Goldman, bonuses were slashed 90%. Many junior bankers — who last year raked in bonuses well into the six figures — received just $10,000 or $15,000, The Post previously reported.
Some sources at the company say they don’t understand why Solomon is holding another investor day given the first one — held in 2020 just before the pandemic hit — was a flop.
“Last investor day Solomon said X and everything has turned out the opposite of what he’s predicted,” a Goldman source griped to The Post.
In 2020, Solomon touted Goldman’s fledgling consumer bank Marcus — then a business that brought in just 2.4% of the firms total revenue. After pouring nearly $6 billion into Marcus and never yielding a profit, Solomon is scaling it back after “his ambitions got the better of him,” a person close to Solomon said.
A spokesperson for the bank told The Post, “We’ve set a clear strategic direction and we’re looking forward to discussing our progress at Investor Day.”
People close to the bank note Goldman’s total pay and benefits were down 15% in the fourth quarter while the CEO’s pay was down 29%.
These people add to that Solomon has a solid plan for the second Investor Day where he’ll emphasize the three core strategies he’s already unveiled — growing wallet share and financing in banking and markets, growing management fees in asset and wealth management, and delivering profitability in platform solutions — and how he plans to achieve them.
Still others say holding an investor day without a radically new vision, may be a waste — and create hype for nothing.
“The risk is he doesn’t unveil anything at all,” one Goldman source who spoke on the condition of anonymity told The Post. “My guess is it will just be more of the same talking points from last time.”
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
