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Goldman Sachs board weighs handing John Waldron the CEO job as soon as next year
Goldman's board has discussed naming John Waldron, holder of an $80 million retention bonus, CEO as soon as next year, the Wall Street Journal reported. The cost still open is keeping four senior executives who would be passed over.
The Investor · Invest desk
What happened
- The January 2025 retention bonus followed reports that Waldron had held serious talks with Apollo and Carlyle about leadership roles.
- Waldron became president and COO in October 2018, about when Solomon became CEO, after two decades running businesses alongside him.
- Wells Fargo analyst Mike Mayo said Waldron could in some ways be described as the anti-David Solomon.
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Why it matters
- cost Goldman has already paid most of the succession's cost: about $16 million a year through roughly 2030, agreed after Waldron's talks with Apollo and Carlyle.
- exposure Naming Waldron makes Coleman, Nachmann, Varadhan and Dees flight risks, and Mayo warned the bank would not want to alienate any of them.
- decision The AI program Waldron already runs would become the CEO's own agenda, along with a headcount question he told CNBC he cannot yet answer.
The $80 million Goldman Sachs promised John Waldron in January 2025 for staying five more years [8] comes to $16 million a year [1]. It followed reports that he had held serious discussions with Apollo Global Management and Carlyle about leadership roles [9]. As a price, that bought five years of a president, or rather, it put the board's likeliest successor out of reach of Apollo and Carlyle. Mike Mayo, who leads large-cap bank research at Wells Fargo, said the award made it "pretty clear that he would be the successor" [10].
That retention period runs to about January 2030 [2]. A start next year, the earliest timing in the Wall Street Journal's report [3], would sit well inside it. The board still has to approve the appointment, possibly within months [4]. Tony Fratto, a Goldman spokesperson, said there is "no definitive timeline" and that "any assertions about timing are just speculation" [5].
Waldron, 57, has spent 26 years at Goldman [6]. For more than two decades he ran businesses alongside David Solomon, and he became president and chief operating officer in October 2018, about when Solomon took over [7]. The efficiency program a new chief would inherit is already his. The bank's 2026 proxy statement credited him with overseeing its artificial intelligence initiatives, including internal assistants and coding tools for repetitive tasks [12]. Waldron told CNBC earlier this year: "Digital agents will be our robots. I'm not sure dynamically how the overall headcount will change, but I think the firm is going to get much more resilient and much more scalable." [13]
Mayo called this "one of the most telegraphed and smooth CEO transitions that I've seen" [11]. A succession signalled that early also gives the executives who miss out time to plan their own moves. They are chief financial officer Denis Coleman, asset and wealth management head Marc Nachmann, and Ashok Varadhan and Dan Dees, co-heads of global banking and markets [14]. "These are four individuals that you would not want to alienate with any potential future moves," Mayo said [15].
From here the handover can go a few ways. The board approves in the coming months and Solomon stays on as executive chairman, as he is reportedly expected to [16]. The timetable slips, as Fratto's statement allows. Or one or more of the four leaves.
I think Mayo's description of Waldron as in some ways the "anti-David Solomon" [2] is about manner. On the record, Goldman gets a different temperament running much the same plan. The counter-case runs through the chairman's office. Margot McShane said an executive chairman "takes on a portion of the job, usually dealing with investors and external stakeholders" [17]. If Solomon keeps that portion, outsiders will see less of the change in style than the nickname suggests. The continuity view would be wrong if the appointment came with a headcount target for the AI program or a redrawn division structure.
What to watch
- The board's approval vote, which Fortune reported could come within months, and whether it sets a start date Goldman has so far called speculation.
- Any departure, or any new retention award, among Coleman, Nachmann, Varadhan and Dees.
- The written terms of Solomon's executive chairman role, including whether he keeps investor and external relations.