Goldman Sachs’ share of new female partners steadies
Investment bank Goldman Sachs yesterday revealed it had appointed 78 new partners, bringing the total number of partners to 467, or about 1.6 per cent of total current headcount.
Women make up 11 of the 78, up slightly from the 10 women in 2012, but flat proportion-wise at 14 per cent of the intake. Meanwhile, 19 (24 per cent) work in the bank’s Europe, Middle East and Asia (Emea) operations, while 50 (64 per cent) are based in the Americas. This is a reduction in the proportion of Emea appointments, which made up 28 per cent of 2012 appointments, while the amount from the Americas has increased from 59 per cent.
In an email to staff, Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs’ chief executive, and Gary Cohn, company president, said: “These appointments recognise some of Goldman Sachs’ most valued senior professionals, their embodiment of our culture and values and their leadership of the firm’s business and people. We look forward to their continued strong performance and leadership in the years ahead.”
Each new partner received a personal call from either Blankfein or Cohn to inform them of the news.
The partner class size of 78 is larger than the 70 appointments in 2012, the last time partners were appointed, although significantly smaller than the 2010 class size of 111. Blankfein and Cohn also stated: “We congratulate all those selected and wish them continued success. These decisions are extremely difficult and we would like to acknowledge the hard work of those who were not selected.”
Goldman partners have a higher base salary than other employees, and share in a special pool of bonus money each year. They also get perks such as the ability to invest in lucrative Goldman-managed funds.
Most banks gave up the idea of partnerships when they went public. Edith Cooper, global head of human capital management at the firm, said Goldman Sachs went through a selection process that was “very similar to when we were a private firm”.