By Thaler
Goldman Sachs has begun axing managing directors across the globe as the Wall Street giant looks to cut costs amid a profitability crunch, sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
About 125 managing directors, including some in investment banking, are going to be fired as part of a round of layoffs that’s set to affect 250 employees at every level, a spokeswoman told.
While the spokeswoman declined to comment any further, sources – who asked to remain anonymous since the matter isn’t public – told Bloomberg that managing directors have already begun to receive pink slips.
The latest reduction in headcount comes as deal values have fallen more than 40% to $1.2 trillion this year.
Goldman Sachs ranked as the No. 2 adviser globally, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The last time the bank didn’t place first at the year’s halfway point was in 2018, the data showed.
The investment bank has been slashing its workforce in a cost-saving effort since late last year in response to the deals slump.
In September, Goldman handed pink slips to 1% to 5% of mid-level investment bankers in the US, London and China offices.
The cuts came after the Wall Street behemoth reported second-quarter earnings of $2.93 billion, precipitously lower than the second quarter of 2021, when the bank hauled in $5.49 billion.
Then in December, sources caught wind of an impending cut of as many as 4,000 “low performing” staffers – a week after Goldman reportedly slashed its struggling retail banking division by 400.
The bloodbath was dubbed “David’s Demolition Day” as word of the layoffs by hard-charging chief executive David Solomon spread throughout the firm’s headquarters in downtown Manhattan.
By January, 3,200 workers were removed from payroll – the most significant since Goldman culled its ranks following the 2008 financial crisis.
As senior executives are left worried about their fate at the company, Solomon has grown increasingly unpopular among his workforce of 40,000.
Since Solomon took the helm in 2018, Goldman’s stock has soared more than 50%.
However, the bank’s $12.2 billion in net revenues in Q1 of 2023 was a slump from the same time period in years prior.
Last year, the bank reported $12.9 billion in profits in Q1, and in 2021, that figure was a massive $17.7 billion.
Insiders at Goldman told that Soloman’s high-handed management style has changed the work culture for the worse, and makes the 61-year-old boss vulnerable to getting the boot if business takes a bad turn.
“The board is starting to re-evaluate. David may have a problem with the board room. No one wants to see someone is at war with their senior execs,” one Goldman insider told. “You can ignore the bad coverage for a month or two, but the board no longer has plausible deniability about what’s going on.”
In addition, since Solomon took the bank’s reins in 2018, Goldman partners have griped over their skimpy bonuses, his costly, botched venture into consumer banking and his side hustle as a DJ.
Meanwhile, Solomon added more than 10,000 employees to the bank’s payroll when he rose to the chief position in a hiring spree to fill demand for pandemic-era dealmaking.
As of September, Goldman employed more than 49,000 worldwide, according to financial filings.
Yet as of June, the bank’s website touts a workforce of “nearly 40,000.”
