Goldman Sachs has determined to scrap a second spherical of deliberate job cuts this yr after its funding banking unit produced stronger-than-expected ends in the second quarter, in response to a report..
A surge in funding banking charges and one other stellar efficiency by the David Solomon-led lender’s merchants satisfied the financial institution’s prime brass to pause plans for any performance-related layoffs, in response to the Monetary occasions, which cited unnamed folks conversant in the matter.
The cuts had been pencilled in for September if there was any extreme financial turmoil from President Trump’s tariff and commerce coverage, the FT added.
The Wall Avenue large, based mostly at 200 West St. in decrease Manhattan, at present employs roughly 46,000 folks.
A Goldman Sachs spokesperson declined to remark.
In March, the financial institution moved to trim roughly 3% to five% of its workforce in what it known as on the time a “strategic resource assessment.”
Layoffs of this sort are an everyday characteristic within the finance trade when corporations look to rein in bills and boot out underperformers.
Goldman posted a $3.72 billion revenue for the interval ending June 30 when it launched its second-quarter outcomes final week.
It amounted to earnings of $10.91 per share, blowing previous the estimate forecast by analysts on the London Inventory Change Group of $9.53 per share.
The robust numbers may very well be seen as a vindication for the transfer to award Solomon and his lieutenant, chief working officer John Waldron, $80 million golden handcuffs bonuses earlier this yr.
Solomon has been underneath fireplace in recent times for his controversial side-hustle as a home DJ and his use of firm plane, though the 63-year-old has since stepped again from spinning information in public.
The choice to halt the deliberate job cuts comes throughout a risky yr for Wall Avenue. 2025 opened with preliminary optimism round deregulation and dealmaking underneath Trump.
However a slowdown in M&A exercise was led to when the commander-in-chief threatened to declare a world commerce warfare, singling out lots of the US’s buying and selling companions that he believed had handled this nation unfairly.
Goldman final week additionally posted a greater than 25% year-over-year enhance in funding banking charges, suggesting that executives are assured a couple of pipeline of offers that can be struck as soon as the White Home has inked contemporary buying and selling preparations with dozens of nations.
In keeping with knowledge from the London Inventory Change Group, industrywide funding banking charges have climbed about 2% this yr to roughly $67 billion.
Buying and selling has additionally been a brilliant spot for Goldman, together with rivals Morgan Stanley and Citi, with the agency benefiting from heightened market volatility in 2025 that has fueled demand for fairness and fixed-income buying and selling providers.
The monetary large’s buying and selling desks notched $4.3 billion in income for the second quarter — about $600 million above analysts’ forecasts — with some insiders citing savvy bets surrounding the so-called “TACO trade” — or wagers that “Trump Always Chickens Out” on his tariff threats.
