Goldman Sachs boosts size of partner class – report

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) plans to promote the largest number of executives to the rank of partner since David Solomon became CEO in October 2018, according to a media report.

The firm, which holds on to the pre-public ritual, plans to announce more new partners than it did in 2022, when 80 employees joined the rarefied level of Goldman’s hierarchy, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Slightly more than 400, or fewer than 1%, of the company’s 46,400 employees (as of Sept. 30, 2024) achieve the distinction.

Goldman announces a new class of partners every two years. Reaching the highest level in the company’s ranks provides a leg up in attaining even higher management roles and often includes pay that runs to several millions of dollars. They also get the opportunity to invest in private funds without fees and a share of profits from Goldman’s investment funds that are open to employees, Bloomberg said.

When Solomon became CEO, he made it a point to limit the size of partner classes to ensure the “aspirational nature” of the appointment. Just a month into his tenure, the bank elected 69 new partners, then 60 in 2020, its smallest class since the company’s IPO in 1999.

The increase in the number of new partners comes as Goldman (NYSE:GS) seeks to diversify its upper ranks by adding more women and executives from other parts of the world. Still, the current group is dominated by men, the report said.

The biggest crop of new partners was in 2006 when 115 people were made partner.