Decks stop spinning on Goldman Sachs boss' DJ career as firm profits tumble
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon has confirmed he will be stepping off the dancefloor as the firm unveils a plunge in profits.
Mr Solomon, who performs at high-profile events under the name DJ D-SOL, has said he will be picking Wall Street over Lollapalooza due to the "distraction" his hobby is causing in the media.
It comes amid reports the US investment bank's board are concerned his DJing would distract from his main job.
The banking titan has recorded falling earnings for eight straight quarters, with bosses announcing that net income fell from $3 billion (£2.5 billion) a year ago to $1.88 billion (£1.54 billion).
The decision to halt his DJ-ing hobby may also have been prompted by last week's announcement that JP Morgan, a chief competitor of Goldman Sachs, recorded a 35% jump in third quarter profits to $13.2 billion (£10.8 billion).
A Goldman Sachs spokesperson, Tony Fratto said: “David decided to stop publicly DJing more than a year ago because of the outside attention to it."
Beyond the booth Solomon has been accused of poor leadership and his ability to lead the company has come into question from former chairman and chief executive Lloyd Blankfein, according to CNN.
However, while shares of Goldman may be down by more than 8.4% this year, they are still up by about 40% since Mr Solomon took over in 2018.
Analysts had low expectations for Goldman this quarter, with sluggish markets and the firm announcing earlier this year that it was pulling out of its growing consumer lending business. The bank is selling off its GreenSky business, which the bank had to write off this quarter.
“We’re confident that the work we’re doing now provides us a much stronger platform for 2024,” said Mr Solomon.
Goldman has struggled in the past year as fewer businesses have sought to do deals amid higher inflation and geopolitical uncertainty, and market conditions have been tougher this year compared to last.
The bank saw a 1% rise in investment banking revenues from last year, and its trading business of bonds, currencies and commodities was down 6% in the period. Equities trading was up 8%.
The bank's return on equity, a measurement on how well an investment bank is performing with the assets they hold, was 7.1% in the quarter.
Historically in the past decade or so, banks like Goldman aim to get that measurement above 10%.
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