stockrowWhat it does
Goldman Sachs is a global financial institution serving corporations, financial institutions, governments and individuals. Founded in 1869, it is headquartered in New York. David M. Solomon is chief executive.
The company operates through Global Banking & Markets, Asset & Wealth Management and Platform Solutions. Global Banking & Markets advises companies and public-sector clients on mergers, sales, restructurings and other strategic transactions; helps them raise equity and debt; and trades, clears and finances securities and other financial products for institutional clients. It also provides corporate lending, acquisition financing, transaction banking, payments and cash-management services.
In market making, Goldman Sachs gives clients prices for financial instruments, facilitates their purchases and sales, and can temporarily take the other side of a transaction when no buyer or seller is immediately available. Its institutional technology platform, Marquee, provides market intelligence, risk analytics, proprietary datasets and trade execution across asset classes.
Asset & Wealth Management manages money and provides investment, financial-planning, advisory, private-banking and lending services. Its clients include institutions, individuals, families, family offices, foundations and endowments. It offers investments managed internally and by third parties through separately managed accounts, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, private partnerships and other pooled vehicles.
Platform Solutions mainly comprises activities related to Apple Card customers and businesses that have been exited. The Apple Card program is being transitioned to another issuer.
How it makes money
Goldman Sachs earns fees for advising on transactions and underwriting securities, trading revenue and financing income from market making and lending, and management, incentive and private-banking income from Asset & Wealth Management. It also earns revenue from investments. Its three segments reported FY2025 revenue of $41.5 billion in Global Banking & Markets, $16.7 billion in Asset & Wealth Management and $151.0 million in Platform Solutions.
Global Banking & Markets earns advisory and underwriting fees when clients undertake mergers, divestitures, restructurings, equity offerings, debt offerings and acquisition financings. Its FICC and Equities businesses earn intermediation and financing revenue. Intermediation includes providing liquidity and executing client transactions in cash instruments and derivatives; financing includes secured lending, resale agreements, prime brokerage, securities lending, swaps and other client financing. Transaction banking earns income from deposits, payments, cash management and the interest income attributed to transaction-banking deposits.
Asset & Wealth Management’s principal recurring revenue stream is management and other fees, the vast majority of which are asset-based fees on client assets under management. Fee levels vary by asset class, client channel and services, and are affected by investment performance, inflows and redemptions. The segment can also earn incentive fees when specified returns or benchmarks are exceeded. Private banking and lending earns net interest income on client loans and deposits; investments generate gains and losses from public and private equity, debt, real estate and infrastructure-related positions.
FY2025 net revenues were $58.28 billion. Management said on the Q2 2026 call that quarterly net revenues were $20.3 billion, including $15.5 billion in Global Banking & Markets, $4.6 billion in Asset & Wealth Management and $221 million in Platform Solutions.
| Segment | Revenue, FY2025 | Share | Change on the year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Global Banking & Markets | $41.5 billion | 71.1% | 18.2% |
| Asset & Wealth Management | $16.7 billion | 28.6% | 2.22% |
| Platform Solutions | $151.0 million | 0.26% | −92.9% |
Customers and how it sells
Global Banking & Markets serves public- and private-sector clients, including corporations, governments, states, municipalities, professional market participants and investment entities. These clients use the company for capital raising, mergers and acquisitions, trading, risk management, financing and cash-management services. The company maintains client connectivity through its global sales force and technology platforms, including Marquee.
Asset & Wealth Management serves institutions and individuals. Its institutional and individual investment products are distributed directly and through third-party distributors worldwide. Its wealth business serves individuals, families, family offices, foundations and endowments directly, through corporate referrals and through companies that sponsor financial-wellness or financial-planning programs. Management said on the Q2 2026 call that wealth-management client assets were roughly 2 trillion and that total assets under supervision surpassed 4 trillion.
The Americas generated $36.5 billion of FY2025 revenue, or 62.7%. EMEA generated $14.2 billion, or 24.3%, and Asia generated $7.6 billion, or 13.0%. Goldman Sachs had 47,400 employees as of December 2025, offices in over 35 countries, and a workforce split of 50% in the Americas, 20% in EMEA and 30% in Asia.
Management said on the call that Asia was a particular area of client activity in equities, partly driven by AI-related capital formation and investment.
| Region | Revenue, FY2025 | Share | Change on the year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Americas | $36.5 billion | 62.7% | 6.10% |
| EMEA | $14.2 billion | 24.3% | 15.6% |
| Asia | $7.6 billion | 13.0% | 11.2% |
Suppliers and costs
Goldman Sachs does not report manufacturing operations or identify key or sole-source suppliers in the supplied information. Its operating model instead depends on people, technology, financial infrastructure, capital, liquidity and access to funding markets. It uses third-party service providers, and disruptions in their services can affect its operations.
Compensation and benefits are a significant operating cost, reflecting the role of employees in advisory, markets, investing, client coverage, technology and control functions. FY2025 operating expenses were $37.54 billion, up 11% from 2024, primarily because of higher compensation and benefits expenses and higher transaction-based expenses. The FY2025 efficiency ratio was 64.4%.
The company also incurs funding costs because it finances trading inventory, loans, investments and liquidity reserves. It maintains unencumbered highly liquid securities and cash to meet potential cash outflows and collateral needs under stressed conditions. This policy increases total assets and funding costs compared with operating with lower liquidity balances.
Management said on the Q2 2026 call that quarterly non-compensation expenses rose year over year to $5.6 billion, driven by transaction-based expenses associated with activity levels, particularly in equities.
- Revenue$58.3B
- Research and development−$710.0M
- Selling, general and administrative−$23.8B
- Other operating costs−$11.9B
- Operating income$21.9B
Competitive position
Goldman Sachs competes with brokers and dealers, investment banks, commercial banks, credit-card issuers, insurers, investment advisers, mutual funds, hedge funds, private-equity funds, private-credit funds, merchant banks and financial-technology and internet-based companies. Competition spans investment banking, market making, asset management, private banking and lending, commercial lending, cards, transaction banking, deposit taking and investing. Competitive factors include execution, client experience, products, innovation, reputation and price.
Morgan Stanley was reported as leading an Anthropic IPO syndicate alongside Goldman Sachs, placing it in investment-banking underwriting. BlackRock and Goldman Sachs Asset Management-managed funds and accounts were reported as making anchor commitments to a SpaceX transaction; KKR-advised capital accounts were also reported as making anchor commitments. Those firms operate in asset management and alternative investments.
Electronic execution and alternative trading systems have placed pressure on trading commissions, while price competition has compressed bid-offer spreads in market making. Passive strategies with lower fees affect pricing in asset management. Goldman Sachs also competes for deposits on rates and for employees with firms whose compensation practices may not face the same regulatory oversight.
Our reading: Long-standing advisory relationships and the ability to connect advisory, financing, risk management, capital-markets execution and asset-management opportunities are a meaningful relationship-based advantage, supported by the company’s description of this cross-business activity.
Our reading: Global distribution, market-making capacity and capital commitment support the institutional franchise, but price competition, electronic trading and regulatory constraints limit the durability of those advantages.
Our reading: Asset-based management fees provide recurring revenue, but passive investing and lower-fee alternatives constrain pricing power.
| Competitor | Where they compete | Threat (our reading) |
|---|---|---|
| Morgan Stanley | Investment-banking underwriting | High |
| BlackRock | Asset management and alternative investments | High |
| KKR | Alternative investments | High |
Growth opportunities
Goldman Sachs is seeking growth from greater connectivity between its advisory, financing, markets, investing and wealth-management businesses. Management said on the Q2 2026 call that advisory mandates can lead to financing, risk-management, capital-markets execution and distribution work, as well as investment opportunities for Asset & Wealth Management clients. It also said it had seen nearly 900 referrals to wealth management from investment banking since the start of 2025.
The company expects the AI infrastructure buildout to remain a multi-year driver of strategic activity, financing and capital formation. Management said companies are investing not only in technology but also in infrastructure, energy and data centers, creating demand for structuring, financing, risk management and capital-markets execution. It also said the cycle could involve bumps and recalibrations as technology demand develops.
In Global Banking & Markets, management said the investment-banking backlog reached its highest level in five years in Q2 2026, underpinned by a record advisory backlog. It identified financing demand in prime brokerage and FICC financing as exceeding the amount it considers appropriate to provide, while maintaining selectivity and risk discipline. Management also described Asia as an area where it has invested in people, technology and financial resources to expand equities financing and market share.
Asset & Wealth Management is pursuing client inflows, alternatives fundraising, outsourced chief investment officer services and targeted acquisitions. Management said on the call that it had completed acquisitions of Industry Ventures and Innovator, and that both were showing momentum in early integration. It expects full-year alternatives fundraising to exceed $125 billion. Management and other fees rose 20% year over year in Q2 2026 to $3.4 billion.
- $59.3BFY2021
- $47.4BFY2022
- $46.3BFY2023
- $53.5BFY2024
- $58.3BFY2025
Structural risks
-
Market conditions: Global financial-market and broader economic conditions can adversely affect the company’s businesses. Volatile or less liquid markets can make assets harder to value, increase collateral disputes and increase credit risk.
-
Funding and liquidity: An inability to access debt capital markets or sell assets can affect liquidity, profitability and operations. Disruptions in credit markets can reduce access to credit and raise its cost.
-
Counterparty credit: Deterioration in the credit quality of, or defaults by, third parties can adversely affect the business, profitability and liquidity. Derivative transactions and delayed documentation or settlements create credit risk and potential losses.
-
Operational resilience and cyber risk: Failures in the company’s or third parties’ systems, human error, misconduct, cyberattacks, software disruptions or spikes in transaction volume can disrupt services, expose confidential information, damage reputation and cause losses. AI development and use also present risks and challenges.
-
Regulation and conduct: The business and its clients are subject to extensive regulation worldwide. Regulatory changes can impose activity limits, fees and compliance costs that do not apply equally across jurisdictions; consumer deposit and credit-card operations bring additional requirements.
-
Competition and client mix: Competitors can use lower pricing, electronic execution, products Goldman Sachs does not offer, or different regulatory frameworks to gain share. Results can also be affected when its client concentration by industry or market differs from that of competitors.
Bottom line
Our reading
Our reading: Goldman Sachs is a global, client-led financial-services business whose core earnings engines are institutional advisory, markets and financing, complemented by asset and wealth management. Its revenue is exposed to transaction volumes, market activity, financing demand and investment performance, while asset-based management fees add a recurring component. The company’s relationship network and ability to connect businesses support its model, but funding, market, credit, operational, regulatory and pricing risks remain integral to it.