trending Market Intelligence /marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/ti6fbj2quzmcxcwrui_vng2 content esgSubNav
In This List

Goldman Sachs names Solomon sole president, COO

Podcast

Street Talk Episode 87

Blog

A New Dawn for European Bank M&A Top 5 Trends

Blog

Insight Weekly: US banks' loan growth; record share buybacks; utility M&A outlook

Blog

Banking Essentials Newsletter 2021: December Edition


Goldman Sachs names Solomon sole president, COO

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. President and co-COO Harvey Schwartz is retiring, effective April 20.

Schwartz's exit will leave David Solomon as the investment bank's lone president and COO. The two men took their posts as presidents and co-COOs in January 2017.

The move comes just days after The Wall Street Journal reported that Goldman Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein was planning to step down from the bank's helm in late 2018 or early 2019.

The report detailing Blankfein's potential retirement was followed by the Goldman chief executive writing on Twitter that the story was "[The Wall Street Journal's] announcement ... not mine."

"I look forward to continuing to work closely with [Solomon] in building our franchise around the world, serving our expanding client base and delivering strong returns for our shareholders," Blankfein said in a statement announcing Schwartz's retirement.

The announcement of Schwartz's impending departure could set Solomon up as Blankfein's heir apparent. While the timing of the 63-year-old Blankfein's retirement remains unclear, Solomon and Schwartz were broadly thought to be the two candidates set to succeed Blankfein.

At 56 years old, Solomon has been Goldman’s longest-serving major business line head, according to a March 12 research report from Compass Point Research & Trading analyst Charles Peabody. Leading up to his appointment as president and co-COO, Solomon worked as Goldman Sachs' co-head of global investment banking since July 2006.

Despite being three years older than Schwartz, Solomon may be better able to help lead Goldman Sachs into the future due to his time in the company's investment banking business, which has generated more consistent earnings than the trading business, Peabody wrote.

But, if Solomon were named as Blankfein’s successor, it could also position the company for a future “power struggle for resources” as the company’s investment banking business may be pitted against its trading business, which Blankfein and Schwartz both worked in. Schwartz, who previously was Goldman Sachs’ CFO, also worked as the company’s global co-head of its securities division.

"In short, the future of the firm would seem to indicate a need for someone from the [investment banking] operation to lead the firm," Peabody wrote.