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Goldman Sachs has decided to scrap a second round of planned job cuts this year after its investment banking unit produced stronger-than-expected results in the second quarter, according to a report..
A surge in investment banking fees and another stellar performance by the David Solomon-led lender’s traders convinced the bank’s top brass to pause plans for any performance-related layoffs, according to the Financial times, which cited unnamed people familiar with the matter.
The cuts had been pencilled in for September if there was any severe economic turmoil from President Trump’s tariff and trade policy, the FT added.
The Wall Street giant, based at 200 West St. in lower Manhattan, currently employs roughly 46,000 people.
A Goldman Sachs spokesperson declined to comment.
In March, the bank moved to trim roughly 3% to 5% of its workforce in what it called at the time a “strategic resource assessment.”
Layoffs of this kind are a regular feature in the finance industry when firms look to rein in expenses and boot out underperformers.
Goldman posted a $3.72 billion profit for the period ending June 30 when it released its second-quarter results last week.
It amounted to earnings of $10.91 per share, blowing past the estimate forecast by analysts at the London Stock Exchange Group of $9.53 per share.
The strong numbers could be seen as a vindication for the move to award Solomon and his lieutenant, chief operating officer John Waldron, $80 million golden handcuffs bonuses earlier this year.
Solomon has been under fire in recent years for his controversial side-hustle as a house DJ and his use of company aircraft, although the 63-year-old has since stepped back from spinning records in public.
The decision to halt the planned job cuts comes during a volatile year for Wall Street. 2025 opened with initial optimism around deregulation and dealmaking under Trump.
But a slowdown in M&A activity was brought about when the commander-in-chief threatened to declare a global trade war, singling out many of the US’s trading partners that he believed had treated this country unfairly.
Goldman last week also posted a more than 25% year-over-year increase in investment banking fees, suggesting that executives are confident about a pipeline of deals that will be struck once the White House has inked fresh trading arrangements with dozens of countries.
According to data from the London Stock Exchange Group, industrywide investment banking fees have climbed about 2% this year to roughly $67 billion.
Trading has also been a bright spot for Goldman, along with rivals Morgan Stanley and Citi, with the firm benefiting from heightened market volatility in 2025 that has fueled demand for equity and fixed-income trading services.
The financial giant’s trading desks notched $4.3 billion in revenue for the second quarter — about $600 million above analysts’ forecasts — with some insiders citing savvy bets surrounding the so-called “TACO trade” — or wagers that “Trump Always Chickens Out” on his tariff threats.
