The Campaign Goldman's CEO Waged to Silence Powerful Internal Critics

David Solomon was under siege from partners critical of his leadership; the firm launched a probe to identify leakers

- Annamaria Andriotis

David Solomon was fed up with his critics inside Goldman Sachs. The time had come to crack down.

It was bad enough that Goldman partners were criticizing the chief executive's leadership and bad-mouthing the storied bank's costly expansion of consumer lending. What rankled Solomon even more was the suspicion that some of the naysayers were leaking details to reporters. Goldman launched a probe to figure out who was talking, according to people familiar with the probe.

Solomon was going through a brutal stretch in 2022 and 2023. The consumer lending expansion that he had spearheaded was generating billions of dollars in losses. It was hurting Goldman's stock, moneymaking partners were leaving, and Solomon had taken flak for his attention-grabbing side gig DJing.

Solomon told Goldman's board that he was going to take action, pushing out troublemakers who he said were undermining him with their leaks, people familiar with the matter said. The board told Solomon he had their support. By last year, longtime executives who had openly criticized his strategy were gone. The departures sent a message inside Goldman: No one is safe if they go up against the CEO.

These days, things are going a whole lot smoother for Solomon. The bank is exiting consumer lending and refocusing on its core businesses of advising giant companies and wealthy individuals. Solomon gave up the prominent DJ gigs. Profits have been rising steadily. In February, Goldman's stock hit a record high.

And Solomon, 63 years old, has cemented control for the foreseeable future. This year, he got a 26% raise and an $80 million bonus to stay for five more years.

This account of Solomon's comeback is based on conversations with current and former Goldman partners and executives, many of whom interacted directly with Solomon over the period.