Goldman Sachs boss David Solomon is planning a massive reorganization of the Wall Street giant that will consolidate its key businesses into three units, according to a report.
The corporate rejiggering — the third restructuring effort chief executive Solomon has made in the last four years — will place the company’s investment banking and trading divisions under one roof, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The new unit — which combines two divisions long seen as rivals, with former CEO Lloyd Blankfein having risen to the helm from the trading unit and his successor Solomon hailing from investment banking — will be helmed by Dan Dees, Jim Esposito and Ashok Varadhan, according to the report, which cited unnamed sources.
Asset and wealth management will be combined with the troubled consumer lending bank Marcus under another umbrella, Bloomberg reported separately. It’s unclear who will lead the new group. Stephanie Cohen, who has co-headed Consumer and Wealth Management will be put in charge of a breakout unit of the consumer bank called Platform Solutions which will work with the bank’s corporate partners, Bloomberg reported.
The changes are expected to be announced as soon as this week. Goldman Sachs is slated to report quarterly earnings on Tuesday.
The move to combine Marcus with other more profitable businesses comes after years of the consumer lender missing profit expectations and failing to bring in revenue executives had hoped for, sources told The Post.
A spokesperson at Goldman Sachs would neither confirm nor comment on the news.
Luke Sarsfield and Julian Salisbury, who have been running asset management, will lose their titles. Salisbury will be named chief investment officer, according to Bloomberg, and Sarsfield will return to a sales role in asset management.
The third business will put transaction banking, the company’s financial-technology ventures like its deals with Apple and General Motors in the same division. Marc Nachmann, who is co-head of trading, will run this division, according to Bloomberg.
The move unwinds the banks last restructuring effort David Solomon completed in 2020 and is an effort to emphasize the bank’s most profitable businesses, Bloomberg reported.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report news of the company’s reorganization; Bloomberg was first to report the company may combine the asset, wealth and consumer business.
As Goldman unveils grand new plans, insiders suggest Goldman may be trying to beef up its numbers with investors — especially given the company’s shares trade at just 0.9 times book value, according to FactSet.
That number is far less than the 1.4 times book value Morgan Stanley shares trade at and the 1.3 times book value JPMorgan shares trade at.
