Goldman Sachs: What It Does, CEO, Partners, and Key Facts

Ask a room which bank embodies Wall Street and Goldman Sachs is the name that comes up before anyone finishes the sentence. The firm has been advising governments, underwriting companies, and managing money since 1869, according to its own 2025 annual report, yet plenty of smart people still struggle to explain exactly what it does.

Founded: 1869 ·
Headquarters: New York City, USA ·
CEO: David Solomon ·
Employees: ~45,000 (2023) ·
Revenue: $46.2B (2023) ·
AUM: $2.8T (2023)

Goldman Sachs at a glance

Seven rows, one pattern: the firm is old, global, and big enough to sit at the center of finance without being a consumer bank.

The pattern worth noting: these are the 2023 baseline numbers, and the firm’s 2025 reporting shows net revenue of $58.3 billion plus $3.6 trillion in assets under supervision (Goldman Sachs 2025 Annual Report) — a measure of how much the franchise has grown since.

What does Goldman Sachs do exactly?

Goldman is not a single product; it is a holding company that organizes itself into three reporting segments: Global Banking & Markets, Asset & Wealth Management, and Platform Solutions. That segmentation — taken directly from the firm’s 2025 annual report — is the clearest way to understand what Goldman actually does all day.

Investment Banking

• M&A advisory
• Equity and debt underwriting
• Restructuring

Goldman places investment-banking revenue inside Global Banking & Markets and defines it as financial-advisory and underwriting revenue, excluding net interest (Goldman Sachs 2025 Annual Report). In plain terms, those are the fees a company pays when it buys a rival, sells shares to the public, issues debt, or restructures its balance sheet.

The firm states it retained the number-one M&A-adviser position for the 23rd consecutive year in 2025 (Goldman Sachs Investor Relations (2025 annual report webpage)). That is a company-stated milestone rather than an audited figure; league-table providers can rank the same deals differently. It still tells you where Goldman’s prestige comes from.

Asset & Wealth Management

• Mutual funds and ETFs
• Institutional portfolio management
• Alternatives and private markets

This is the segment that makes Goldman feel less like a classic bank and more like an investment powerhouse. It combines asset management — building and running funds for institutions — with a wealth business that serves some of the richest families and institutions in the world.

The scale is substantial: the firm reported $3.6 trillion in assets under supervision across Asset & Wealth Management and $1.9 trillion in wealth-management client assets in 2025 (Goldman Sachs 2025 Annual Report). It also describes its asset-management business as a top-five global active asset manager and its alternatives platform as a leading franchise (Goldman Sachs 2025 Annual Report).

Wealth Management

• Private wealth and financial planning for high-net-worth clients
• Focus on ultra-high-net-worth individuals, family offices, endowments, and foundations
• $1.9 trillion in wealth-management client assets

Goldman’s wealth unit is not a high-street bank in disguise. The firm says its wealth-management franchise focuses on ultra-high-net-worth individuals, family offices, endowments, and foundations (Goldman Sachs 2025 Annual Report). Those clients need lending, tax-aware investing, estate planning, and access to private markets — not a checking account with a rewards app.

The strategy appears to be compounding: wealth-management net revenue has grown at an 11% compound annual rate since 2021, while management fees plus private-banking-and-lending revenue grew at 12% over the same stretch (Goldman Sachs 2025 Annual Report).

Global Reach

• Offices in over 30 countries
• Headquarters in New York City
• Major hubs in London, Tokyo, and Hong Kong

The firm was founded in New York in 1869 and still operates from there, but its client base is global. The annual report describes a franchise that advises companies and governments across the United States, Europe, and Asia, with London, Tokyo, and Hong Kong among its major hubs.

The implication: each segment serves the same client logic — institutions, companies, and wealthy individuals who need advice, markets, and capital. Goldman’s brand is built on being the expert in the room, not the bank on the corner.

Is Goldman Sachs the big 4?

Short answer: no — and the confusion is understandable because the “Big 4” label means different things in different industries. In professional services, it has a very specific meaning, and Goldman does not fit it.

Definition of the Big 4

• Deloitte
• PwC
• EY
• KPMG

The Big 4 are the four largest global accounting networks. They dominate audit, tax, and consulting work for public companies. Goldman Sachs is an American multinational investment bank — a different business, a different regulator, and a different skill set.

Goldman Sachs vs. the Big 4

The practical difference shows up in clients and products. An accounting firm signs off on financial statements; an investment bank structures transactions and raises capital. The 2025 annual report describes the business as financial-advisory and underwriting, trading, asset management, and wealth services — nothing resembling a statutory audit (Goldman Sachs 2025 Annual Report).

Bulge Bracket Investment Banks

The relevant grouping for Goldman is the bulge bracket: the loose club of global investment banks that handle the largest corporate and government transactions. Membership is not official, but Goldman and JPMorgan are the two names most often pulled into the same sentence — which is exactly why people ask whether the firms are the same.

Who is the CEO of Goldman Sachs?

David Solomon has run the firm since 2018 and also serves as chairman — a combination that gives him broad control over both management and the board.

David Solomon: Tenure and Background

CEO since: 2018 ·
Previous role: President and COO ·
Predecessor: Lloyd Blankfein

Solomon previously served as the firm’s president and COO before succeeding Lloyd Blankfein. The 2025 annual report issued under his leadership shows net revenue of $58.3 billion and earnings per share of $51.32 (Goldman Sachs 2025 Annual Report).

Previous CEOs

• Lloyd Blankfein — led the firm through the 2008 financial crisis
• Henry Paulson — left the CEO role to become U.S. Treasury Secretary

Both stories reinforce a deeper pattern: Goldman’s leadership is almost entirely homegrown. Blankfein, who preceded Solomon, was the public face of the firm during the crisis; Paulson ran Goldman before joining the U.S. government.

The pattern: Goldman picks its chief executives from inside the building. That continuity is a cultural strength — and it also means the firm rarely imports an outsider to challenge its own assumptions.

Are JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs the same?

No — and the strategic distance between them is wider than their shared zip code suggests. Both are bulge-bracket banks that compete for the same corporate clients, but they are built on different models.

Similarities

• Both are major investment banks and direct competitors
• Both run large markets, asset-management, and advisory businesses
• Both manage money for institutions and wealthy clients

The overlap is real. A company that wants to sell bonds or buy a competitor typically gets pitches from both firms. Both also manage enormous asset pools and operate trading desks that span global markets.

Differences

• JPMorgan is significantly larger and includes a consumer bank, Chase
• Goldman concentrates on institutional clients, wealth management, and advisory work
• JPMorgan combines commercial, consumer, and investment banking under one balance sheet

The cleanest way to see the difference is client base. Goldman is more concentrated in institutional investment banking, markets, alternatives, and ultra-high-net-worth advice. JPMorgan pairs those businesses with broad commercial and consumer distribution, private banking, and global asset-management capabilities — a universal-bank ecosystem that feeds its balance sheet every day.

Market Position

The consequence is that the two firms compete hard on deals but almost never on everyday banking. Goldman does not chase the mass retail market the way JPMorgan does with Chase, and that difference shapes everything from revenue mix to how each firm thinks about risk.

The trade-off: JPMorgan gets stability from consumer deposits and payment flows; Goldman gets fee intensity from advisory and markets. They compete, but they are not substitutes.

Who is the youngest partner at Goldman Sachs?

This is the kind of question that lives on finance forums, and the honest answer is: the firm does not publish a record book for partner ages. The name that always comes up is Eric Mindich.

Youngest Partner History

• Eric Mindich reportedly made partner at 27 in 1994 — the age almost always cited as the record
• The milestone is not officially maintained, so it may be outdated or disputed

Mindich’s story became part of Goldman lore because it cemented the image of the firm as a place where raw talent gets rewarded fast. Whether he still holds the record is unclear; the firm has never published a formal ranking of partner ages.

Partner Demographics

• Around 29% of partners were women as of 2023 — the most commonly cited figure
• The firm does not publish a live count, so the percentage shifts each year

Partner demographics are a rare window into Goldman’s internal culture, but the numbers are not audited and depend on who is counting. The 29% figure is widely repeated; treat it as directional.

Highest Paid Employees

• The CEO is typically the firm’s highest-paid executive; Solomon’s 2023 compensation was reported at $35 million
• Pay for other partners is tied to firm-wide profits and not disclosed in the same detail

Goldman’s pay scale matters because compensation is how the partnership keeps its best producers inside the tent. The CEO number is public; almost everything below it is not.

Why this matters: partner statistics are Goldman’s most visible talent signal — and its least transparent numbers. Anyone comparing the firm’s culture with a rival’s should treat the figures as directional, not audited.

Goldman Sachs vs. JPMorgan Chase: side-by-side comparison

Six dimensions, one pattern: Goldman is the specialist, JPMorgan is the ecosystem.

The pattern holds in every row: the bigger the balance sheet, the broader the client base; the sharper the advisory focus, the higher the fee intensity. Choosing between Goldman and JPMorgan is really a choice about which trade-off you want.

Goldman Sachs through the years

Five dates frame the story, and the pattern is unusual for finance: a 19th-century partnership that became a public company late in the 20th century, then a bank holding company in the 21st.

• 1869: Founded by Marcus Goldman in New York City (Goldman Sachs 2025 Annual Report)
• 1896: Joined the New York Stock Exchange (Goldman Sachs 2025 Annual Report)
• 1999: Initial public offering (Goldman Sachs 2025 Annual Report)
• 2008: Survived the financial crisis and converted into a bank holding company (Goldman Sachs 2025 Annual Report)
• 2018: David Solomon becomes CEO (Goldman Sachs 2025 Annual Report)

The takeaway: longevity alone doesn’t explain Goldman’s status; the 1999 IPO and the 2008 conversion were the two moments that turned a private partnership into a regulated public institution with the scale to survive the worst crisis in generations.

What’s confirmed and what’s still unclear

This article leans heavily on the firm’s own disclosures; that is the nature of the source material. Here is what is solid versus what should be read with a raised eyebrow.

The pattern: official numbers from the firm are confirmable; anything involving partner statistics or rankings is softer, because the underlying methodology is not public.

What the firm’s own disclosures say

Neither Solomon nor his predecessors give a press interview every time the annual report lands; the public record is mostly the document itself. Two statements from it capture the firm’s self-image.

Goldman’s Asset & Wealth Management strategy is built on growth in wealth management, alternatives, and solutions — with wealth management focused on ultra-high-net-worth individuals, family offices, endowments, and foundations.

— Goldman Sachs, 2025 Annual Report

The firm also states on its investor relations page that it retained the number-one M&A adviser position for the 23rd consecutive year in 2025, a streak it emphasizes across its annual report materials.

The takeaway: Goldman knows exactly how it wants to be measured — by advisory rankings and assets under supervision, not by consumer account numbers.

The big picture

Goldman Sachs is not the bank where most people keep their money, and it is not a member of the Big 4 accounting networks. It is a specialist institution-business whose brand has become shorthand for Wall Street itself — earning by being the expert in the room rather than owning the corner branch. Its own 2025 disclosures show the firm doubling down on that identity: $3.6 trillion in assets under supervision, a wealth unit compounding at 11% a year, and a self-reported streak atop the M&A rankings (Goldman Sachs 2025 Annual Report; Goldman Sachs Investor Relations). For an institutional investor weighing Goldman against JPMorgan, the implication is clear: choose Goldman when the mandate is concentrated advice and market access, or choose JPMorgan when the mandate needs a balance sheet with consumer scale.

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