Goldman Sachs called some of its banker employees to phony business “meetings” at its New York headquarters and handed over the pink slip to them, according to the New York Post. The fired employees were given the choice to leave the office immediately.
The bankers were emailed calendar invites that called them for phony business “meetings” at the headquarters. The New York Post report said many of the Goldman Sachs workers were called in for meetings as early as 7.30 am. Some junior bankers were also given only 30 minutes to collect their belongings and leave.
“He got here early for the meeting and was told the news… The meeting was put on his calendar under false pretenses,” according to the report quoting a source, who recounted the sad tale of a colleague who had been fired.
It added that “managers were sorry to do this but their hand was forced and they wished him the best of luck”.
According to the New York Post report, fired employees were given the choice to leave the office immediately or wait for colleagues to arrive so they could say goodbye. Most of the casualties chose to exit the building following a wave of axings that were done before 9 a.m.— leaving colleagues who filtered in afterwards confused over what had happened.
Goldman Sachs may lay off as much as 8 per cent of its workforce or up to 4,000 jobs, to contain a slump in profit and revenue.
The layoffs are the latest sign that cuts are accelerating across Wall Street as dealmaking dries up. Investment banking revenues have plunged this year amid a slowdown in mergers and share offerings, marking a stark reversal from a blockbuster 2021 when bankers received big pay bumps.
Goldman Sachs had 49,100 employees at the end of the third quarter after adding significant numbers of staff during the pandemic. The workforce stood at 38,300 at the end of 2019, according to a filing.
Recently, Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer David Solomon said in a message to employees, “We are conducting a careful review and while discussions are still ongoing, we anticipate our headcount reduction will take place in the first half of January… There are a variety of factors impacting the business landscape, including tightening monetary conditions that are slowing down economic activity. For our leadership team, the focus is on preparing the firm to weather these headwinds.”
Trading and investment banking — the traditional drivers of Goldman’s profit — accounted for nearly 65 per cent of its revenue at the end of the third quarter, compared with 59 per cent in the third quarter of 2018, when Solomon took the top job.
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