Goldman Sachs Layoffs: Wall Street banking major to cut over 1,300 employees in annual review

Goldman Sachs Layoffs: The Wall Street banking major plans to trim its staffing by three to five per cent in an annual performance review process this year. According to a report by news agency Reuters, that would equate to more than 1,395 job cuts from the bank's global workforce of 46,500 at the end of December. According to the report, the last time Goldman Sachs conducted a similar review in September, it made smaller reductions.

“This is part of our normal, annual talent management process,” a Goldman Sachs spokesperson told Reuters. According to the Reuters report, Goldman Sachs carried out multiple workforce reductions in 2023 as dealmaking stagnated and stepped back from a loss-making consumer business. 

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Goldman Sachs Layoffs: Key Metrics

The environment for banks has since improved. In January, Goldman Sachs reported its biggest quarterly profit over three years as investment bankers brought in more deal fees and traders benefited from active markets. 

That month, CEO David Solomon was awarded an $80 million stock bonus to stay at the helm for another five years, a stark turnaround for a leader whose survival was questioned after the ill-fated retail foray. According to Reuters, John Waldron, Goldman's president and chief operating officer, widely seen as Solomon's successor, was also awarded a retention bonus of $80 million in restricted stock and recently joined the banking giant's board of directors.

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Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are among the banks acting as brokers to facilitate the growing investor demand for ways to trade Russian-related assets. The ruble has risen 20 per cent this year, a more significant increase than any other foreign exchange.

Both banks have contacted investors, offering ruble-linked derivative contracts — a trade allowed under Western sanctions because there is no physical Russian asset and it does not involve Russian nationals. Since US and European investors are blocked from accessing rubles directly, the derivatives contract, called a non-deliverable forward, gives traders a legal workaround to profit if the currency continues to surge in value. 

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