Goldman’s Waldron Seen as Possible Successor to Solomon

Now over on Wall Street, Goldman Sachs' John Waldron may get his shot at CEO sooner rather than later. The Wall Street Journal reporting the board has discussed a plan where Waldron succeeds David Solomon as early as next year. Joining us now is Bloomberg finance editor Jenny Surane. Jenny, we can talk about the personalities in just a moment, but what do you make of the timing that they're discussing? The timing, I mean, it's definitely interesting. It's, you know, not such a surprise given we just had last year where Goldman gave him many millions of reasons to stay with a big incentive package that, you know, took place over over multiple years. And so I think this is just another sign that, you know, he is the heir apparent. It's even more apparent now, and perhaps a little bit sooner than than what some on the street were were thinking. How did the these men's personality differ? There was a lot made in the early days of Solomon that maybe he was awkward. He had to have dinner parties with name tags that the board was kinda concerned about some of these things. What does John Waldron bring to the table as a potential CEO? I think he's been in the wings for so long that he's not an unknown character both inside and outside Goldman. So this is someone that has had a lot of experience, you know, meeting with staff. He's currently leading the work that they're coining, GS three point o. So that's a lot of the work they're doing to kind of adopt AI across Goldman, which gets him really, you know, in the weeds with a lot of the different business units. And then he's definitely a face that folks outside Goldman know that whether that's clients, investors. This is someone who's been groomed for a while for this next, job, and so he's definitely not an unknown character in that sense to to kinda all the stakeholders across the firm. What what about just the this moment that he'd be leading the bank in and that David Solomon finds himself in now? Numbers had been extremely strong. There had been some talk from both Goldman and from Bank of America that maybe that doesn't get a repeat, but at the same time, trying to grasp AI and what that means for their staff. Just how pivotable pivotal of a moment is it? I do think that's, like, the big question and and what will be the biggest challenge for the next leader, is, you know, how this technology reshapes the entire way that their workforce does their daily work. So I think that's what he's been spending a lot of his time on already, and we'll probably see him and Solomon spending even more of their time on that. By the way, the obvious contrast is JPMorgan where Jamie Diamond has sat at the top, and they've lost so many potential successors. How is that conversation shaping up, especially as we look at another big bank eyeing another transition itself? Yeah. I mean, I think they also have a really deep bench and and lots of names that investors are very familiar with, but these are big, enormous companies where there's always lots going on. There's always lots of efforts to recruit away their best talents. You also see these banks constantly out there in the marketplace trying to compete and make sure that, you know, the talent that they've groomed from the earliest stages can kind of stick with them through to when their next CEO finally does take the take the role.