Goldman Sachs prepares to cut 3,200 jobs to cut costs

Goldman Sachs will start cutting up to 3,200 jobs within days, according to a person familiar with the matter, as the bank tries to rein in costs in the face of a slowdown in investment banking and a reduction in its retail bank.

The cuts, which represent about 6.5% of its workforce of around 49,000 employees, are short of the worst-case scenario of 3,900 jobs that Goldman chief executive David Solomon and his management team discussed at the end. last year. The final number could also be less than 3,200, the person briefed on the matter said.

However, the scale of the cuts being prepared is one of the deepest Goldman has undertaken in its recent history, and is more drastic than planned by many competing banks.

This in part reflects how Goldman has grown its headcount twice as fast as the overall banking industry since the start of 2020 as it expanded into new areas while, during the pandemic, halting annual cut of underperforming employees.

The cuts will be across the bank, hitting Goldman’s consumer business, which the company is scaling back, as well as its investment banking and commercial operations. Goldman continues to hire in areas such as its junior analyst class.

Goldman declined to comment on the cuts, which were reported by Bloomberg.

The Wall Street bank is due to report fourth-quarter earnings on Jan. 17. Analysts predict earnings per share to have declined about 8% year-over-year in the last quarter of 2022.