How Goldman Sachs Make (Unmake) Partners

[Andy Nguyen]

The cover story on New York Times and is making its round in the financial circles. The process is highly secretive and few people know the details until now.

At Goldman, Harder to Achieve, and Stay, Partner - NYTimes.com

On Wall Street, becoming a partner at Goldman Sachs is considered the equivalent of winning the lottery.

This fall, in a secretive process, some 100 executives will be chosen to receive this golden ticket, bestowing rich pay packages and an inside track to the top jobs at the company.

What few outside Goldman know is that this ticket can also be taken away.

As many as 60 Goldman executives could be stripped of their partnerships this year to make way for new blood, people with firsthand knowledge of the process say. Inside the firm, the process is known as “de-partnering.” Goldman does not disclose who is no longer a partner, and many move on to jobs elsewhere; some stay, telling few of their fate.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Goldman Sachs today selected 110 people to become partners, up from 94 in the last round two years ago, as Wall Street rebounds from the financial crisis.

Goldman Sachs Promotes 110 to Partner as Wall Street Rebounds From Crisis - Bloomberg

 

[ThinkDifferent]

Goldman Sachs today selected 110 people to become partners, up from 94 in the last round two years ago, as Wall Street rebounds from the financial crisis.

Goldman Sachs Promotes 110 to Partner as Wall Street Rebounds From Crisis - Bloomberg

Wall Street rebounds?

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Can't tell from that. Could be GS trying to keep people from jumping ship. Could be anything.

 

[dstefan]

And some partners will be pruned, so you can really read nothing about the big picture from this announcement.

 

[AlgoCan]

The process is highly secretive and few people know the details until now.

Well, I am not sure if this "anonymous" GS insider has shed any further light on the process, rather this seems a PR stunt to attract/keep people to the firm after so much negative publicity... besides, in this day and age of transparency, wouldn't it be more exciting to hear GS has developed an internal employee performance/contribution measurement metric/algorithm and chooses the top X% performers as partner, rather than through a secretive process?

 

[PennyLess]

Don't Goldman and the other IBs also have a process of firing some x% of their employees every year? Isn't it an up-or-out culture where you either continue to move up in the ranks or out the doors? Can you be a career associate without getting promoted to VP? Is there any article about this process? Maybe the answer to this is in one of the Wall Street culture books, but hope someone can confirm.

 

[Andy Nguyen]