REPORT SAYS CEO AT GOLDMAN SACHS PLANNING TO RETIRE

» Goldman Sachs CEO NEW YORK

Lloyd Blankfein has started plans to retire and could do so as soon as the end of this year, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

Blankfein, 63, has run Goldman since 2006, and ran the New York firm through the housing market bubble and subsequent financial crisis.

The firm also became a target of intense populist anger during the Great Recession. The firm emerged from the crisis transformed, trying to focus less on risky trading and is now exploring new businesses such as consumer loans.

The two people considered as candidates to replace Blankfein are Harvey Schwartz and David Solomon, who share the position as chief operating officer, The Wall Street Journal said, citing undisclosed sources.

Discussions on whether Blankfein would step down heated up a few years ago when he was diagnosed with lymphoma.

He successfully underwent radiation and chemotherapy and has publicly said he considers himself cured.

A Goldman Sachs Group Inc. spokesman declined to comment on the report.

Blankfein’s departure would leave Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co., as the lone big Wall Street CEO who ran his firm before the financial crisis and remains at the helm today.