Goldman Sachs’ most senior executives are set to receive special equity awards worth more than USD 500 million at the bank’s current share price, one of the largest payouts of its kind in the firm’s history, Bloomberg News reported, citing filings and people familiar with the matter.
About 20 executives are in line for the awards, which are expected to be finalised later this month. David Solomon, the chairman and chief executive, is set to receive the largest share, at more than USD 100 million.
John Waldron, the president and chief operating officer, is among the recipients, as are business heads Ashok Varadhan, Dan Dees and Marc Nachmann, along with other members of the 2021 management committee who remain at the bank.
The payout comes from a long-term incentive scheme that Goldman disclosed in October 2021. The final value of the pool will be set by the bank’s share performance relative to peers at the end of October, so the total could still move. The awards are tied to shareholder returns over a five-year window that began in October 2021.
Half of the vesting depends on absolute total shareholder return and half on returns relative to a peer group, with any shares earned delivered around the fifth anniversary of the grant.
The reference share price of USD 409.48 was the five-day average closing price in the days just before the grant, and it is also the base for the absolute total shareholder return goals.
The initial grants were far smaller on paper. Solomon received 73,264 performance-based stock units and Waldron 48,843, which were worth roughly USD 30 million and USD 20 million respectively when the plan was announced.
The board said at the time that the awards were intended to secure leadership continuity, set demanding performance thresholds and “enhance retention in response to the rapidly increasing war for talent”. They were described as one-off grants outside regular annual pay.
The timing of the original award drew attention.
It came only months after Solomon’s compensation for 2020 was cut by 36% to USD 17.5 million, with about USD 10 million deducted because of the bank’s role in the 1MDB bribery scandal.
Wall Street was then enjoying a surge in dealmaking and a boom in special purpose acquisition companies as markets recovered from the pandemic.
JPMorgan Chase had given its own chief executive, Jamie Dimon, a special award of 1.5 million share options that July.
Goldman’s results were already running at record levels when the plan was filed. Revenue and earnings for the first nine months of 2021 had exceeded the bank’s previous full-year highs, and its shares were trading near all-time highs.
Five years on, Goldman has outperformed most of its main rivals. Its shares have risen about 180% over the past three years.
Solomon’s early tenure was marked by a loss-making push into retail banking that cost the firm billions of dollars and prompted sharp criticism of his leadership. Goldman has since largely withdrawn from consumer lending and refocused on investment banking, trading and asset management.
The special awards sit alongside other pay arrangements for the two men. Goldman paid Solomon USD 47 million for last year, an increase of more than one-fifth and his highest remuneration since he took over in 2018.
He received USD 39 million for 2024. Solomon and Waldron were also granted retention bonuses worth USD 80 million each at the start of 2025, which run for five years and are meant to keep both men at the bank until at least 2030.
In the same package, Goldman introduced a carried interest programme that ties part of certain executives’ annual pay to growth in the bank’s third-party alternatives business. Its compensation committee has cited continuing competition for talent from traditional rivals, alternative asset managers and non-bank liquidity providers.
Waldron has been president and chief operating officer since October 2018 and oversees the heads of the bank’s three main divisions.
He joined the board in early 2025, and earlier reports have said directors are planning for him to succeed Solomon at the end of 2027 or in 2028. When the board appointment was announced, Argus Research banking analyst Stephen Biggar said firmer succession planning appeared to be under way.
Goldman has said the board created the awards to align compensation with rigorous performance thresholds, ensure leadership continuity and keep top talent in an increasingly competitive market.
Performance-based stock awards are a common way for companies to link executive pay to long-term results, and the payout here reflects gains for shareholders over the period as well as for management.
The scale of the sum is likely to draw scrutiny from investors assessing how the bank rewards its leaders.
Goldman is due to report third-quarter earnings next week, which will give shareholders a fresh view of how the business is performing as the awards are settled.