He said the environment was more complex in the second quarter of last year
David Solomon told a private gathering of Goldman Sachs executives that he made a mistake by not cutting jobs earlier in 2022, according to people familiar with the remarks.
Speaking to about 400 people in a closed-door meeting in Miami this week, the CEO said he took responsibility for slowing staff reductions and cutting back on investment in new projects when it became clear that a major downturn in business would occur.
“Because the environment was more complex in the second quarter of last year, I thought we should be more aggressive in slowing hiring and reducing headcount,” Solomon said, according to a person familiar with the matter, according to a report published by the Financial Times, which was seen by Al Arabiya. .net”.
Goldman Sachs waited until January to cut 3,200 jobs, roughly 6.5% of its workforce, as part of the bank’s biggest cost-cutting operation in years. Solomon admitted that this would have been less severe if he had taken action earlier.
The bank’s net profit in 2022 fell by 50%, nearly from a record 2021 profit on the back of sharp declines in investment banking fees, writedowns in its asset management business and losses in its financial technology division.
A spokesman for the bank said “it was unusual not to address staff reductions this year” at the partners’ meeting.
