- Goldman Sachs’ CEO David Solomon’s 2024 comp rose 26% from the year prior, the firm said Friday.
- The Wall Street CEO will be paid $39 million for 2024, up from $31 million in 2023.
- He and Goldman’s president, John Waldron, stand to earn millions more over the next 5 years.
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon and his top deputy, President and COO John Waldron, stand to make millions if they continue to run the bank over the next five years, according to new compensation figures released Friday.
On Friday, the bank released pay details for its top leaders in a regulatory filing. It said Solomon received a roughly 26% bump in pay over last year, with his 2024 compensation totaling $39 million. The bank split that out across a base salary of $2 million, performance stock units of Goldman equity amounting to $25.9 million, an incentive bonus of $2.78 million, and a cash portion of $8.33 million.
Solomon and Waldron each received $80 million in restricted stock units that vest over a five-year period — a sign that the bank plans to keep them around for at least the next half decade. The bank called them “retention RSUs,” suggesting its intent on hanging on to Goldman’s two top leaders.
“The Retention RSUs reflect the Board’s desire to retain the current CEO and COO as a senior leadership team, sustain the strong momentum they have demonstrated in executing on our firmwide strategic priorities, help ensure stability and continuity in our senior leadership over the next five years and maintain a strong succession plan for the future of the firm,” the bank said in a regulatory filing outlining what the board agreed to pay the bank’s top leaders.
The pay structure appears to be a vote of confidence in Solomon’s leadership, potentially putting to bed a narrative that emerged during the pandemic years that Solomon’s decision-making and extracurricular pursuits like DJing had left him with chinks in his armor.
Goldman’s Compensation Committee, which determines the CEO and President’s salaries, pointed to several factors to explain its decision, including”strong fireside financial performance in 2024 and a significant year-over-year improvement as a result of strategic execution.”
This week, the firm reported total 2024 net revenues of more than $53 billion, with almost $35 billion coming from its banking and markets division, in its earnings results for the fourth quarter of 2024. As of mid-January, its stock was trading at roughly $619 per share — 64% increase over a 12-month period.
What’s more, in the regulatory filing, Goldman touted its prowess in both its global banking and markets and asset- and wealth-management business lines. The former encompasses services like advising on mergers and acquisitions, where Goldman is routinely at the top of the league tables, while the bank said that the latter division houses a “top 5 alternatives business” and elite services for managing the money of the ultra wealthy. Last year, the AWM group’s assets under supervision swelled to a record $3.14 trillion, the firm said.
Beyond Solomon and Waldron’s pay, the regulatory filing also announced that the bank will adopt a carried interest program in which its top leaders will also be paid based on the performance of Goldman’s third-party alternatives business. The goal, the bank said, is to “attract and retain talent” at a time when the asset-management community is waging a war for the best professionals and has, at time, raided Goldman’s ranks.
Reed Alexander is a correspondent at Business Insider. He can be reached via email at ralexander@businessinsider.com, or SMS/the encrypted app Signal (561) 247-5758.
