New York Post

Goldman: split heirs?

Two execs may get Cohn jobs of COO/Pres.

- By KEVIN DUGAN kdugan@nypost.com

The race for No. 2 is on inside Goldman Sachs.

Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive of the Wall Street bank, is considerin­g splitting the president and chief operating officer roles in the wake of Gary Cohn’s expected departure for the Trump administra­tion, The Post has learned.

The two top contenders for the position are David Solomon, the bank’s cohead of investment banking, and Harvey Schwartz, the chief financial officer, a bank executive briefed on transition plans told The Post.

The succession plans come as Cohn, 56, is expected to join the Trump administra­tion as the director of the National Economic Council, an influentia­l position that will help craft legislatio­n and economic priorities for the 45th president.

Cohn had also been con- sidered for positions in the Office of Management and Budget and the Treasury, according to one source.

Cohn, who has been with Goldman since 1990, has made a reputation as a hardnosed trader good at dealmaking — although less good at making friends.

In one infamous Bloomberg profile, Goldman employees said Cohn would “plant his foot on a trader’s desk, his thigh close to the employee’s face, and ask how markets were doing.”

Dealbreake­r, a satirical Wall Street blog, wrote that “Gary Cohn Likes To Speak To Employees On A Grundle-To-Face Basis.”

His relationsh­ip with Blankfein has also been rocky of late, sources said.

He was the source of a Fortune magazine item speculatin­g that Cohn was close to succeeding his boss — and fessed up to Blankfein soon after, according to a person briefed on a conversati­on between the two.

“They tolerated each other, but they’re not best friends,” the source said.

The National Economic Council was created in 1993 under President Clinton. Previous directors include Rick Rubin, who went on to become Treasury secretary.

Cohn is now the third ex-Goldman exec with an influentia­l position inside the Trump administra­tion, after Chief Strategist Steve Bannon and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.

Wall Street execs were elated with Cohn’s pick to the NEC.

“You don’t even want someone political, you just need someone super smart,” one high-ranking banking executive told The Post.

Jake Siewert, a Goldman spokesman, declined to comment.

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