By Saeed Azhar
NEW YORK, Nov 5 (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs elevated 109 bankers to its coveted partner ranks, marking its biggest partner class since 2010, it said on Thursday, but unlike in previous years it omitted a demographic breakdown, as the Trump administration’s war on diversity initiatives continues to impact corporate America.
The appointments, made every other year, rose from the 95 partners named in 2024. The partnership is a legacy of Goldman’s era as a private firm, when partners pooled their own money to support trading and investment banking, and split the resulting profits or losses.
Wall Street firms have dialed back their diversity initiatives after President Donald Trump launched a broad campaign after taking office against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices in both the government and the private sector, alleging that these programs are discriminatory.
A Goldman executive cited the change in the legal environment in recent years for not breaking down the demographics, but added the firm still believes the diversity of its workforce as critical to the company’s commercial success.
In 2024, it announced 26 women or 27% of the cohort were promoted to partner ranks. The class also had 6% Hispanic executives and 4% Black.
“It is unfortunate that one of the world’s largest and influential banks is afraid to publish demographic data,” said Mayra Rodriguez Valladares, managing principal, MRV Associates, LLC.
“Executives should come out and state plainly whether they really are interested in giving all an equal playing field or whether they only release numbers when it is politically convenient.”
After the reelection of Trump in 2024 many companies made U-turns on diversity programs, driven by allegations, especially from Republicans, that their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs discriminated against white or male employees. Last year, Goldman Sachs dropped an entire section dedicated to “diversity and inclusion” from its annual filing.
The promotions take effect on January 1, with 85% of the class in revenue-producing divisions of global banking and markets, as well as asset and wealth management.
Last month, Goldman Sachs announced financial results that beat third-quarter profit estimates, as dealmaking remained steady and volatile markets tied to the Middle East conflict lifted its equities revenue.
The stock is down roughly 2% year to date, underperforming the S&P 500 index, which is up 8%. Its shares have also lagged JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley year to date.
The cohort, which will have about 500 members, including Goldman’s top leaders, remains an important part of its culture even after the company, founded in 1869, went public in 1999. Over 100 of them will be female, an executive said.
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said those promoted have distinguished themselves through “their differentiated impact on our global franchise and ongoing focus on managing risk effectively.”
(By Saeed Azhar; additional reporting by Ross Kerber; Editing by Stephen Gandel, Chizu Nomiyama and Aurora Ellis)
