Goldman Sachs named David M. Solomon as its next CEO today, placing a veteran investment banker in charge of the Wall Street giant facing mounting challenges.
As The New York Times reports, Solomon’s appointment will end the tenure of Lloyd C. Blankfein, the 63-year-old former gold salesman who has run the firm since 2006 and steered it through the financial crisis.
Blankfein will hand over the chief executive role on Oct. 1 and remain chairman until the end of the year. Solomon, 56 and currently the bank’s president, will add the chairman title at the beginning of 2019.
Solomon’s appointment is likely to begin a series of management changes in the upper ranks of the firm, as the new chief executive selects his own lieutenants. He will also have responsibility over a plan to increase the bank’s revenue by $5 billion over a three-year period.
“Organizations, to move forward, have to evolve, they have to change, they have to adapt,” said Solomon in a joint interview late Monday with Blankfein ahead of the formal announcement.
“When things are going badly, you can’t leave. And when things are going well, you don’t want to leave,” Blankfein says. “So if you’re going out on your own steam, it’s always going to be at a moment when you don’t want to leave. And by the way, that’s why people sometimes stay too long.”
The announcement came the same day that the almost 150-year-old company reported better-than-expected financial results, after its securities trading businesses, long been considered a core strength, have performed worse than other big banks in recent years by wide margins.
