Dive Brief:

• Goldman Sachs’ board has approved $47 million in compensation for CEO David Solomon in 2025, the bank disclosed Friday.
• The pay package represents a 20.5% raise over the $39 million Solomon received for 2024, and likely will make him the highest-paid CEO among the six largest U.S.-based banks.
• Goldman’s disclosure comes a day after JPMorgan Chase announced a $43 million pay package for CEO Jamie Dimon.

Dive Insight:

Goldman’s board credited “continued and significant shareholder value creation” as a major factor in Solomon’s payout. The bank touted its second-highest full-year net revenues (nearly $58.3 billion) and net earnings (roughly $17.2 billion) among its reasoning Friday. Solomon’s raise mirrored a roughly 20% increase in profit the bank saw in 2025. Goldman’s share price jumped 53.5% over the year.

Goldman also cited “strong momentum in executing on our strategic priorities” and “meaningfully improving” the bank’s risk profile. The bank, since October, announced it would buy exchange-traded fund issuer Innovator Capital Management for $2 billion, as well as venture-capital platform Industry Ventures for nearly another $1 billion.

Goldman also agreed to offload its Apple Card portfolio to JPMorgan Chase. That’s one of the last vestiges of Goldman’s much-maligned foray into consumer banking, which reportedly eroded support among partners and top executives – such that observers were questioning Solomon’s future as head of the bank as recently as 2023.

In the intervening time, however, Solomon has appeared to right the ship in the eyes of Goldman’s board and shareholders: Friday’s pay package marks the CEO’s third consecutive annual raise of 20% or more. And the bank, at this time last year, gave Solomon an $80 million retention bonus meant to keep him in place through 2030.

Solomon’s $47 million payout breaks down to a $2 million base salary, a $10.1 million cash bonus, $31.5 million in performance share units and $3.4 million in carried interest from the funds the bank manages, the company said Friday.

In its disclosure, Goldman touted its “strong performance” in asset and wealth management, as well as global banking and markets. It also praised its executive retention, “taking into account the ongoing competitive threat to our best talent from both traditional banking peers as well as alternative asset managers and other non-bank liquidity providers.”

For its part, the bank incentivized its No. 2 executive, President John Waldron, to stay – offering him a board seat and a retention bonus equal to Solomon’s.

Goldman also cited an “enduring and relentless focus on our culture and Core Values, with client centricity and our One Goldman Sachs operating ethos.”

The bank updated its “One Goldman Sachs” philosophy in October – which contained a crucial endorsement of artificial intelligence.

“While we are still in the early innings in terms of assessing where AI solutions can best be deployed, it’s become increasingly clear that our operational efficiency goals need to reflect the gains that will come from these transformational technologies,” Goldman execs wrote in a memo at the time.

Although he appears to have the support of his board, Solomon has not been immune to occasional barbs from President Donald Trump. After Solomon vocally backed the continued independence of the Federal Reserve, Trump dragged him – and his bank.

“[Goldman] made a bad prediction a long time ago on both the Market repercussion and the Tariffs themselves,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in August. “I think that David should go out and get himself a new Economist or, maybe, he ought to just focus on being a DJ, and not bother running a major Financial Institution.”

Four of the six largest U.S-based banks – Bank of America, Citi, Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley – will disclose CEO compensation between now and March. 2024 marked the first time that the CEOs of all six received more than $30 million. Each of the CEOs received raises in 2024 – though it remains to be seen if increases for last year continue apace.

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan last year saw a 21% pay increase to reach $35 million. Citi CEO Jane Fraser saw a roughly 33% bump to reach $34.5 million. Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick received a nearly 42% raise, for $34 million in compensation. Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf saw a 7.6% bump in 2024 to reach $31.2 million. 

Scharf’s compensation presumably could see the largest increase from 2025 after Wells was freed from a long-running asset cap implemented by the Federal Reserve.

Dimon’s 10.3% raise for 2025 is half of the increase Goldman gave Solomon, according to Friday’s disclosure.