Goldman Has Talked About Solomon Handing the Firm to Waldron as Soon as Next Year
Solomon is 64. Waldron is 57. They have run the place as a pair since 2018. A plan is not a date — and it still has to clear the board.
By Sean Anees Saifi · Capital Wealth · Published Thursday, October 1, 2026 · Source: The Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, September 29, 2026 edition, whose market figures are the Monday, September 28 close
Key Points
The board of Goldman Sachs (GS) has discussed a plan for David Solomon to step down as chief executive and be replaced by Chief Operating Officer John Waldron as soon as next year, Annamaria Andriotis and Emily Glazer report, citing people familiar with the matter.
Talks have involved Waldron, who is also president, taking over around the end of 2027 or in 2028. Under the plan, Solomon would likely serve as executive chairman of the Goldman board for around one to two years after leaving the CEO job.
The plan requires board approval, which could come in the coming months; timing is fluid. Spokesman Tony Fratto said the board regularly discusses succession and there is no definitive timeline.
Waldron is 57, Solomon 64. Both joined from the outside more than 25 years ago — Solomon in 1999, Waldron in 2000. Solomon became CEO in 2018; Waldron has been president and COO since then.
Waldron explored options elsewhere years ago after Solomon had a bruising stretch; Goldman moved to keep him, including a contract extension. The two have a close working relationship, the paper notes, and Waldron is a top dealmaker.
2027–28
window discussed for Waldron to take the CEO job
64 / 57
Solomon’s age and Waldron’s
2018
year Solomon became CEO and Waldron president/COO
No date
the bank’s public line: no definitive timeline
A succession conversation is not a succession. The useful household version is the same: name the backup before the chair is empty.
In one line: Goldman has talked about Solomon handing the CEO job to Waldron around 2027 or 2028. A board conversation is not a date, and the house is not trading the stock on it.
Goldman Sachs’s board has discussed a plan for David Solomon to step down as CEO and hand the firm to John Waldron, the president and chief operating officer, as soon as next year, the Journal reports, citing people familiar. The window in those talks: around the end of 2027 or in 2028. Solomon would likely stay as executive chairman for a year or two. The board still has to vote. Timing is fluid. The bank’s spokesman said directors regularly talk succession and there’s no definitive timeline. That last sentence is the only one that’s on the record.
Solomon is 64; Waldron, 57. Both came in from the outside more than 25 years ago — 1999 and 2000. They have run the place as a pair since Solomon got the top job in 2018. Waldron is a dealmaker. He looked at leaving once, after a rough patch for Solomon; Goldman kept him, including with more years on a contract, and put him on the board. The paper describes a close working relationship and the usual bruising that comes with a near-decade in the chair, including the DJ-hobby headlines. A succession that looks smooth from outside is still a political event inside a partnership that calls itself a bank.
Key-person risk isn’t only a bank-balance-sheet problem
For a public shareholder, this is a headline. For a household, it’s the same diagram at a smaller scale: who signs if the founder is 64, who is named on the accounts, who knows the clients. A two-person shop that has never written that down is running the Goldman problem without the board minutes. The house doesn’t add or trim GS on a succession rumor. If the stock is already in a book, it stays a weight question, not a personality question.
Our read
Investments (IN04) / Estate: treat key-person risk as a planning item, not a trade. If a family business, a practice, or a book of clients depends on one name, write the successor and the buy-sell before a newspaper does it for you. Insurance that funds the buyout is dull until the chair is empty. You don’t wait for the first drop to find the umbrella.
If Goldman is in the statement, the sitting is concentration and fees, not whether Waldron DJs. Fifteen minutes with the weights. A plan that could clear the board next year is still a could.
What It Means For Your Portfolio
Hold — a succession talk is not a trade, and it is a reminder to name your own backup
Goldman has discussed Solomon handing the CEO job to Waldron around 2027 or 2028. No date is official. Name your own successor before a paper does.
General planning principles, not advice for anyone in particular. A board conversation is not a date, and it is not a reason to buy or sell the stock. If Goldman is already in a household statement, the question is weight. The useful copy-paste is key-person risk: who signs if the founder is out.
Write the successor, the account titles, and any buy-sell insurance while everyone is still in the chair. That sitting applies to a two-person shop as much as to a bank with a spokesman.
