Goldman Sachs Board Weighs Naming COO John Waldron CEO, With Solomon Moving to Chairman

The board of GS has discussed a plan for president and chief operating officer John Waldron to take over from CEO David Solomon, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing people at the firm. The discussed timing is around the end of 2027 or in 2028, with some headlines framing it as "as soon as next year". No decision has been made: the plan still needs the board's approval, which Reuters reported could come in the coming months.

Waldron has long been seen as Solomon's heir apparent. He has been at the bank about as long as Solomon, who brought him over, and in early 2025 the board granted both men an $80 million, five-year retention award, which for Waldron read as a signal that he would not be passed over. Under the plan, Solomon would likely remain as executive chairman for roughly one to two years after stepping down as CEO, keeping a hand in the franchise he has fronted as one of Wall Street's most visible bank chiefs.

The succession would also reshuffle the ranks below Waldron. The president and COO role would need a new occupant, and the Yahoo Finance discussion of the report named three internal contenders: the two heads of global investment banking and the head of asset management. Whoever is passed over becomes a retention question in its own right, since senior Goldman partners who miss out on the top jobs have historically left for rivals or buy-side firms.

For shareholders, the near-term signal is continuity rather than a strategy break: an insider handoff with the outgoing CEO staying on as chairman. What to watch is a formal board vote and announcement, the choice of the next president, and any departures among the passed-over candidates. Separately, coverage has resurfaced Waldron's 2021 comments on Bitcoin, though nothing in the reporting ties the succession to a change in Goldman's digital-asset strategy.