Bonuses for Goldman Partners Are Set to Shrink by up to 50% as Wall Street Banks Pull Back on Pay

Goldman Sachs is expected to cut its 2022 bonus pool for senior employees by as much as 50 percent, Semafor reported Dec. 8.

The news comes as Wall Street firms are looking to trim executive compensation following a record-breaking 2021, during which major investment banks brought in nearly $402 billion in revenue, the highest earnings in more than two decades. The five biggest investment banks paid their employees $142 billion in compensation last year, $18 billion more than in 2020.

But this year deal-making has slowed, and JPMorgan, Bank of America, and Citigroup are all looking to cut bonus pools for investment bankers by as much 30 percent, according to Bloomberg. A Nov. 15 report from compensation consultant Johnson Associates estimated investment bankers involved in underwriting could see their bonuses decline by as much as 45 percent this year, while those who work in mergers and acquisitions are likely to experience a 20 percent bonus drop.

Even Goldman traders may see their bonuses shrink by a low double-digit percentage, despite being on track to post their biggest annual revenue in a decade.

Separately, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Barclays have all laid off bankers this year after a two-year pause. On Dec. 6 Morgan Stanley said it was laying off about 2 percent of its global workforce.