Goldman president Solomon to become CEO on October 1

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July 17, 2018 2:17 PM

Solomon’s appointment will end the tenure of Lloyd C. Blankfein, the 63-year-old former gold salesman who has run the firm since 2006 and steered it through the financial crisis.

Goldman Sachs on Tuesday named David M. Solomon as its next chief executive officer, putting a veteran investment banker in charge of a Wall Street giant that faces mounting challenges.

Solomon’s appointment will end the tenure of Lloyd C. Blankfein, the 63-year-old former gold salesman who has run the firm since 2006 and steered it through the financial crisis. Blankfein will hand over the chief executive role on Oct. 1 and remain chairman until the end of the year. Solomon, 56, currently the bank’s president, will add the chairman title at the beginning of 2019.

Solomon’s appointment is likely to begin a series of management changes in the upper ranks of the firm as the new chief executive selects his own lieutenants. He will also have responsibility over a plan introduced last year to increase the bank’s revenue by $5 billion over a three-year period, an effort that some analysts consider overdue.

“Organizations, to move forward, have to evolve, they have to change, they have to adapt,” said Solomon in a joint interview late Monday with Blankfein before the formal announcement. “I think one of the things that we’ve been very good at through 150 years is being nimble enough to respond to change when it is forced upon us and also choosing to change because we think it’s the right thing to do for our clients.”

Blankfein oversaw a dominant period for Goldman Sachs. Its money-management business, while smaller than that of Morgan Stanley, probably Goldman’s closest competitor, roughly doubled. Goldman’s total share price return to investors was 57 percent during Blankfein’s tenure.

More recently, Goldman has come under pressure. Its securities trading businesses, long been considered a core strength, have performed worse than other big banks in recent years by wide margins.

Already, Solomon has pushed for changes to Goldman’s business. He has introduced smarter technology in stock trading and investment management. He has moved salespeople from corporate-trading desks into the investment-banking division to help streamline interactions with clients. He is expanding Goldman’s nascent consumer bank, which is called Marcus, into new areas.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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