In today’s big story, we’re taking a deeper look at the number of partner departures at Goldman Sachs under CEO David Solomon.

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Insider came to that number after an exhaustive search of regulatory filings, media reports, and conversations with sources by Dakin Campbell, Emmalyse Brownstein, Walt Hickey, and Kaja Whitehouse.

When broken down by year, that amounts to an average annual departure rate of 43.4, per our calculations, slightly above Goldman’s projections of 30 to 40 annual partner exits. It’s also higher than Insider’s analysis of yearly partner exits during the 14 years before Solomon took over as CEO, which came to 40.4.

Tracking the departure rate of Goldman’s top executives was done to understand the reality — or myth — behind the much-discussed concept of a partner exodus under Solomon.

You can view all 210 names here, along with an analysis of the years they left and what division they were in.

Goldman, for what it’s worth, wasn’t a fan of our work, suggesting there are a “number of discrepancies” in our “back-of-the-napkin math,” per bank spokesperson Tony Fratto.

The case for Solomon

While partner departures under Solomon have increased, according to our analysis, it hasn’t been a massive bump. The average annual departure rate is up less than 7% during his tenure, per our calculations. And when you factor in how bloated the partnership got under former CEO Lloyd Blankfein — hitting 472 at one point — it’s fair to say some trimming was due.

The highest number of departures also came during Solomon’s first year in charge, which seems normal. New leadership typically leads to more churn as the new boss gets their house in order.

It’s also important to remember Solomon isn’t beholden to partners. As valuable as these executives are, it’s not pre-1999 anymore when partners funded the business. Goldman’s shareholders — not its partners — are the people Solomon has to answer to at the end of the day.

The case against Solomon

With that being said, the partner exits aren’t all easily explained. The departure of newly minted execs — at least two who were named partner in 2022 are already gone — seems particularly troubling.

Goldman also likes to pitch departing partners as an extension of the firm. Former Goldman partners become future Goldman clients, the bank likes to say.

And while that sounds great on paper — and is often the case — it doesn’t always work like that. Consider Omer Ismail, who departed Goldman after being tapped to head its entire consumer business to lead a Walmart-backed fintech and took some top executives with him.

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Dan DeFrancesco, senior editor and anchor, in New York City. Diamond Naga Siu, senior reporter, in San Diego. Hallam Bullock, editor, in London. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York.

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