Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon tells partners he regrets not laying off staff sooner after laying off 3,200 last month: FT
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon made the difficult decision last month to cut about 3,200 jobs.
Does he have any regrets? Yes. Apparently he wished he had done it sooner.
“As things got more complicated in the second quarter of last year, every bone in my body believed that we should be much more aggressive when it came to slowing hiring and reducing headcount,” Solomon said Sunday at a closed-door meeting with about 400 partners from Goldman Sachs Miami, after the financial times.
The bank’s net profits fell by almost half in 2022 compared to the previous year. It has struggled to cut costs, with affiliate bonuses taking a hit and private jet use coming under scrutiny.
On what became known internally as “David’s Demolition Day” on January 11th, a large number of employees were laid off. Some employees were fired after showing up for what they believed to be a routine meeting for which a calendar had been emailed to them.
Solomon reportedly said in Miami that had he acted earlier, the layoffs and cost cuts would have been less severe, and he took responsibility for not acting faster.
Solomon has taken the trouble to live a glamorous life amid the bank’s troubles, leading some Goldman Sachs insiders to question his focus on running the company. As well as dating celebrities and flying private jets to the Bahamas, he is also known as a DJ to live audiences as DJ D-SOL at clubs and events around the world.
The board announced last month that Solomon’s salary for 2022 was $25 million. That was a 29% drop from 2021, but affiliates as a group saw their bonuses halved.
Some Goldman Sachs insiders are uneasy and have been debating who could replace Solomon, according to Insider. That wasn’t helped The economist ran a cover story titled “The humbling of Goldman Sachs” a few weeks ago.
Meanwhile, many workers laid off in the last month did not receive bonuses, a large chunk of Goldman Sachs employees’ pay.
“I was really looking forward to that bonus… It would have helped me with some of the school and related expenses that I’m currently paying for,” said a former analyst at Goldman’s Salt Lake City office wealth. “Everyone deserves to get their bonus. Whether you got fired or not, you deserve it.”
wealth Goldman Sachs has reached out for comment.
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