By Saeed Azhar
NEW YORK, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs elevated 109 bankers to its coveted partner ranks, marking its biggest partner class since 2010, it said on Thursday, but unlike in previous years it omitted a demographic breakdown, as the Trump administration's war on diversity initiatives continues to impact corporate America.
The appointments, made every other year, rose from the 95 partners named in 2024. The partnership is a legacy of Goldman's era as a private firm, when partners pooled their own money to support trading and investment banking, and split the resulting profits or losses.
Wall Street firms have dialed back their diversity initiatives after President Donald Trump launched a broad campaign after taking office against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices in both the government and the private sector, alleging that these programs are discriminatory.
A Goldman executive cited the change in the legal environment in recent years for not breaking down the demographics, but added the firm still believes the diversity of its workforce as critical to the company's commercial success.
In 2024, it announced 26 women or 27% of the cohort were promoted to partner ranks. The class also had 6% Hispanic executives and 4% Black.
The promotions take effect on Jan. 1, with 85% of the class in revenue-producing divisions of global banking and markets, as well as asset and wealth management.
Last month Goldman Sachs announced financial results that beat third-quarter profit estimates, as dealmaking remained steady and volatile markets tied to the Middle East conflict lifted its equities revenue.
The stock is down roughly 2% year to date, underperforming the S&P 500 index, which is up 8%. Its shares have also lagged JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley year to date.
The cohort, which will have about 500 members including Goldman's top leaders, remains an important part of its culture even after the company, founded in 1869, went public in 1999. Over 100 of them will be female, an executive said.
(By Saeed Azhar; Editing by Stephen Gandel and Chizu Nomiyama )