Banker who moonlights as DJ may lead Goldman
As bake-offs go it was pretty unusual: A part-time disc jockey and a karate black belt vying to be the next leader of arguably the world’s most influential bank.
On Monday, Goldman Sachs Group picked the DJ.
David Solomon, 56, a longtime investment banker, has been anointed as the sole heir apparent to Goldman’s chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein. The decision was signaled Monday with the abrupt retirement of Solomon’s lone rival for the job, Harvey Schwartz, 54.
A decade removed from a global financial crisis, Goldman remains a potent symbol of Wall Street’s enduring power, and its chief executive perhaps the banking industry’s most prominent spokesman.
The firm possesses unparalleled leverage in Washington, thanks in part to its track record of funneling executives into senior government posts. Even the Trump administration, which rode a populist wave to electoral victory, is stocked with Goldman alumni, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and the departing White House economic adviser Gary Cohn.
Blankfein has led the firm for nearly a dozen years since his predecessor, Henry Paulson Jr., departed to be the Treasury secretary under President George W. Bush. Blankfein, 63, has joked that he intends to die at his desk, but he has signaled to people inside Goldman that he may leave as chief executive as early as this year.
For more than a year — since Cohn stepped down as the firm’s president to be the director of the National Economic Council — Solomon and Schwartz have been auditioning to be Blankfein’s successor. Each man held the title of president.
In February, Goldman’s board met at its headquarters and evaluated the two candidates. Blankfein offered his view, and the directors decided Solomon was their man, according to a person who was briefed on the meeting.
The anticipated elevation of Solomon, a Goldman veteran who moonlights under the name DJ D-Sol, spinning electronic-dance music, marks a strategic shift for the bank.
Solomon was a rare outsider to join Goldman as a partner when he was hired from Bear Stearns in 1999. He is a schmoozer who recognizes the importance of projecting a positive, inclusive image of the bank to its clients, its employees and the public. Unlike Blankfein and Schwartz, Solomon is not steeped in the firm’s cutthroat trading culture.
The leadership transition comes at a time when Goldman’s traditional business model is under siege. Its bond-trading business, once a huge component of the firm’s revenue ,is now a shadow of its former self. The bank’s limited presence in countries like Saudi Arabia and Mexico has meant Goldman has been left out of some lucrative transactions. And its belated attempts to muscle its way into consumer lending have failed to transform the company into a real competitor of commercial banks like JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup.