Goldman Sachs might be on track for its biggest payday in over a decade
Goldman Sachs published its Q2 of 2026 results earlier today. It did pretty well, similar to its peers, and the firm hiked pay. It was the fourth consecutive H1 in a row that the firm hiked pay – but there were some caveats.
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Goldman’s total wage bill for the first half of the year reached $11.5bn, up from $9.6bn last year, a 20% increase, and average pay per person reached $249k, also a 20% increase.
As is obvious, and as we noted earlier, this was related to productivity. Goldman’s revenues went up more than compensation did. The bank is clearly in control of control costs. The compensation to revenue ratio in the first half of 2026 was 30.7%, below H1 of 2025 – and in fact lower than any H1 of the last ten years.
There are a few things to note. For one, it’s unlikely that Goldman’s end of year pay will average $500k. The firm adds around 3,000 interns a year, and those people will drag down pay figures. Analysts and associates starting in September will also not tip that figure upwards.
Secondly, headcount has swung at times rather significantly, and this has been impacted the number of high earners at the firm. For example, it acquired both NN Investment Partners and GreenSky in 2022, and each added around a thousand people to the firm’s employee count. It then sold Greensky in 2024.
It’s quietly shed headcount so far this year. It started the year with 47,400 people. It ended Q1 with 47,000 people, and it ended Q2 with 46,200. The trend is downwards with that figure, and upwards with revenue. In the age of AI, this might be hard to reverse.
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