Goldman Sachs Plans to Cut Hundreds of Jobs

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is preparing to lay off hundreds of staffers as soon as next week.

The job cuts are part of the bank’s annual performance reviews that had been suspended during the pandemic, according to a person familiar with the matter. Goldman reinstated those reviews earlier this year following a slump in Wall Street deal-making activity. Goldman had 47,000 employees on staff at the end of June, up from 41,000 a year earlier.

The New York Times earlier reported on the impending layoffs.

After a record-setting 2021, the industrywide slump in mergers and new initial public offerings has hit Goldman’s bottom line this year. Second-quarter investment-banking revenue fell 41% from a year ago, and Goldman’s profit fell by nearly half in that same period.

Chief Financial Officer Denis Coleman said at the time that the bank would slow its pace of hiring and would be slower to replace departing staff as a result of economic uncertainty.

“There’s no question that economic conditions are tightening to try to control inflation, and as economic conditions tighten, it will have a bigger impact on corporate confidence and also consumer activity in the economy,” Chief Executive David Solomon said on a conference call with analysts in July. “I think it’s hard to gauge exactly how that will play out, and so I think it’s prudent for us to be cautious.”