BY Rosemary
Goldman Sachs said Friday that Chief Executive Officer David Solomon’s total compensation rose 20.5% to $47 million for 2025, reflecting a strong year for the Wall Street powerhouse and placing him among the highest-paid bank executives in the United States.
The pay package surpasses that of JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, whose compensation was set at $43 million for the year, an increase of just over 10% from the prior period. The comparison underscores the extent to which Goldman outperformed many of its peers during a year marked by a resurgence in dealmaking and trading activity.
Solomon’s compensation included a base salary of $2 million, with the remaining $45 million made up of annual variable pay tied to performance. His earnings have climbed sharply in recent years, rising from $31 million in 2023 to $39 million in 2024, before reaching the current level.
Goldman capped off 2025 with a strong set of fourth-quarter results, posting profits that exceeded Wall Street expectations. The gains were fueled by a pickup in mergers and acquisitions, underwriting, and trading, areas that have long been central to the firm’s business model.
During the year, Goldman played advisory roles in several headline-making transactions. Among them were the $56.5 billion leveraged buyout of video game publisher Electronic Arts and Alphabet’s $32 billion acquisition of cloud security firm Wiz. The bank was also a lead underwriter for medical supply company Medline’s initial public offering in the fourth quarter, the largest IPO globally in 2025.
Those deals helped Goldman reclaim the top position in global mergers and acquisitions advisory rankings. Over the course of the year, the firm advised on $1.48 trillion worth of transactions and generated $4.6 billion in related fees, reinforcing its dominance in the investment banking league tables.
Looking ahead, the bank struck an optimistic tone for 2026, citing improving conditions for investment banking. A more accommodative regulatory environment under U.S. President Donald Trump, combined with lower interest rates and abundant liquidity, has encouraged companies to pursue large transactions, creating fertile ground for banks that specialize in complex dealmaking.
Goldman’s board said in a regulatory filing that it determined Solomon’s compensation after considering the bank’s financial performance on both an absolute and relative basis, the broader operating environment in 2025, and the firm’s longer-term results.
Under Solomon’s leadership, Goldman’s stock surged 53.5% in 2025, significantly outperforming the broader market and most major banking rivals. His tenure has marked a period of renewed focus on core strengths after earlier strategic shifts, helping restore investor confidence.
Solomon’s path to the top of Goldman has been unconventional. After being turned down for a job at the firm straight out of college, he joined as a partner in 1999 after leaving Bear Stearns and steadily climbed the ranks. He eventually succeeded Lloyd Blankfein, who led the bank through the global financial crisis and its aftermath. Solomon, now 64, took over as CEO in 2018.
As part of its longer-term leadership planning, Goldman recently named President and Chief Operating Officer John Waldron to its board of directors, a move that followed the award of a 2025 retention bonus. The decision reinforced Waldron’s standing as a potential successor to Solomon and made him the second member of the management committee to gain a seat on the board.
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