Goldman Sachs says no succession is underway after paying Solomon and Waldron $80 million each to stay
Goldman gave David Solomon and John Waldron $80 million each to stay five years, and a third of voting shareholders objected; the record quarter that followed is the bar any handover must clear.
Vincent Jiang · 3 min read
Goldman Sachs−1.27% — Goldman Sachs, down 1.27 percent today chief executive David Solomon used his October 13 earnings call to dismiss the story hanging over it: "There is no succession transition or timeline underway at Goldman Sachs." 3 Two weeks earlier, the Wall Street Journal reported the board had discussed president and chief operating officer John Waldron, 57, succeeding him as early as 2027 or 2028, with Solomon moving to executive chairman, and CNBC reported the plan could face a board vote within months. 26 The bank calls any assertion about timing speculation. 1
Shareholders priced this handover a year ago
The succession Goldman denies has already been paid for. In January 2025 the board gave Solomon and Waldron $80 million each in restricted stock to stay five years, then seated Waldron as a director a month later, unusual for a public bank outside the CEO. 126 A third of voting shareholders objected to the awards, the most executive-pay resistance in the firm's history, and holders of about a quarter of its shares did not vote at all. 4 Goldman's answer was an SEC-cleared option letting retail holders, roughly 30% of the register, default their votes to the board. 4 A separate 2021 plan now pays out more than $500 million at the end of October, with Solomon expected to collect about $100 million on top of $47 million in 2025 pay. 7
Keeping the pair cost $160 million, and a $100 million payout lands in October
- Estimate
Data
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Solomon 2021 plan payout (est.) (estimate) | $100M |
| Waldron retention award, 2025 | $80M |
| Solomon retention award, 2025 | $80M |
| Solomon 2025 annual pay | $47M |
The bar is the best run in the bank's history
Whoever takes over inherits the strongest stretch Goldman has reported. Third-quarter revenue was $18.68 billion, the second-highest quarter ever and up 23% on the year; net earnings rose 29% to $5.29 billion, and EPS of $17.01 beat forecasts near $13.50. 38 Advisory fees set a record at $1.65 billion and equities revenue jumped 72%, the first bank results since the Federal Reserve's first rate hike since 2023, passed 12-0. 358 By the bank's own count, clients announced more than $1.5 trillion of M&A this year, some $400 billion clear of the nearest rival. 8
The two biggest revenue quarters in Goldman's history are the last two
Data
| Net revenue | |
|---|---|
| Q3 '24 | $12.7B |
| Q4 '24 | $13.87B |
| Q1 '25 | $15.06B |
| Q2 '25 | $14.58B |
| Q3 '25 | $15.18B |
| Q4 '25 | $13.45B |
| Q1 '26 | $17.23B |
| Q2 '26 | $20.34B |
| Q3 '26 | $18.68B |
The mandate: prove the AI plan, fatten the small quarter
Wells Fargo+1.21% — Wells Fargo, up 1.21 percent as of its last quote analyst Mike Mayo expects one of the smoothest handovers he has seen, and the stock is up more than 300% under Solomon. 16 The open items are mix and machines. Asset and wealth management still supplies only about a quarter of revenue, $5.1 billion this quarter against $13.5 billion from banking and markets, even with client assets at a record $4.1 trillion. 15 Mayo says the rollout of agentic AI, software agents that do employees' work, will be on Waldron's shoulders, and Waldron already owns OneGS 3.0, the late-2025 efficiency plan that caps headcount. 12 On the AI financing wave feeding those trading desks, Solomon's own words: "I don't know and nobody knows." 5 Two readings matter next: the end-October share price, which sizes the payout, and any board vote on the plan.
Deepdive
AI-generated from this story and its cited sources. Not investment advice.
