Goldman Sachs Group cut CEO David Solomon’s compensation by about 30% to $25 million by 2022, a year in which share price and earnings plummeted and the company pulled out of a very public effort to create a consumer bank.
The package includes a base salary of $2 million and $23 million in variable compensation, with $16.1 million of that in the form of restricted stock units, according to a filing filed Friday.
Michael Nagle/Bloomberg News
The firm’s compensation committee considered factors including Goldman’s performance and how it did relative to its main rivals to determine Solomon’s pay, according to the filing.
“The committee also took into account the company’s continued progress in its strategic evolution, as well as Mr. Solomon’s strong individual performance and effective leadership,” he said. “These factors were considered in the context of a challenging operating environment.”
The investment banking giant poured billions of dollars into his consumer effort, nicknamed Marcus, only to suffer pre-tax losses of $3.8 billion in the past three years. Solomon has admitted that the company tried to push very fast in the sector.
Goldman embarked on one of its biggest rounds of job cuts never this year, with a plan to cut about 3,200 jobs as it sought to keep a cap on costs.
An industry-wide slowdown has hurt earnings on Wall Street. in Goldman, net income fell 48% to $11.3 billion last year, and the bank’s return on equity was 10.2%, below the 14-16% target it set in early 2022.
Stocks fell 10% in 2022, outpacing the 12% drop in the S&P 500 financial index.
Bank executives have been bracing for his compensation to fall as Wall Street tries to contain costs amid a slowdown in trading.
Solomon, 61, was one of the best paid The CEOs of a major US bank for 2021 will receive compensation of $35 million, a figure matched by Morgan Stanley’s James Gorman for that year. By 2022, Gorman saw his pay cut by 10% to $31.5 million. JPMorgan Chase dumped CEO Jamie Dimon to pay unchanged at $34.5 million for that year.
— With the help of Sridhar Natarajan.
