Partners Leaving
Goldman Sachs’s senior employees haven’t been immune this year. More than a half-dozen partners have left since the end of 2015, though it’s not unusual for departures to increase in a year in which a new class is named. The company is scheduled to promote another cohort to that top rank later this year, a nod to its history as a private partnership.
Blankfein’s reliance on junior bankers has helped contain costs. From 2012 through last year, the number of partners and managing directors decreased 2 percent, while the ranks of analysts, associates and vice presidents increased 17 percent, Blankfein said in the February presentation. Even as its workforce grew 11 percent, the company cut $270 million in compensation, the presentation shows.
Goldman Sachs is particularly focused on improving results in its securities division, which houses the sales and trading units, the people said. The New York-based firm already decided to cut its fixed-income business deeper than a typical annual push to eliminate underperformers, a person briefed on the matter said last month. Typically, the firm eliminates about 5 percent of its total staff to make way for new hires.
Still, in areas where the firm sees potential for growth, it has added staff. And the latest cuts don’t appear to be as broad as those made during and immediately after the financial crisis.
In 2008 and 2009, Jon Winkelried, who shared the title of president and chief operating officer with Gary Cohn, led efforts that eliminated more than 10 percent of the company’s personnel. By the end of 2009, the workforce shrank to 32,500. By the end of last year, the firm had 36,800.