Market Data 
- Goldman Sachs has a grand plan to thin its ranks and cuts costs.
- The plan is codenamed “Project Voyage,” Business Insider has learned.
- See what Project Voyage entails — and who stands to be impacted.
Goldman Sachs has a grand plan to thin its ranks and cut costs — and it’s codenamed “Project Voyage.”
CEO David Solomon has tasked staff with providing the bank with lists of executives who could help save the company money through layoffs or relocations, Business Insider has learned. The plan, which has been nicknamed “Project Voyage,” kicked off in the fourth quarter of 2024 and is expected to be rolled out over a number of years, according to a former Goldman employee, who was not authorized to speak to the press and asked to remain anonymous.
The initiative will be rolled out firmwide, affecting divisions including global banking and markets, asset and wealth management, engineering, operations, communications, marketing, and back-office functions, this person said.
A Goldman spokeswoman pointed BI to comments Solomon made in January about “a three-year program” to better manage the bank’s expenses.
“As discussed at length on our fourth-quarter earnings call, we’re focused on operating the firm effectively and prudently over the long term, managing our business to meet the needs of our clients and re-investing for growth,” a Goldman spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.
Who could be impacted
Every year, Goldman Sachs cuts as many as 5% of its bottom performers through a process known internally as the Strategic Resource Assessment, or SRA. Employees who routinely fail to comply with Goldman’s five-day-per-week office attendance policy, for example, could be vulnerable to a cut through the SRA —particularly if they’re found to be underperforming in their job.
This year’s SRA, however, will be informed to some degree by “Project Voyage,” the ex-Goldman insider said.
The bank’s vice presidents — a title that sits between associate and managing directors — will be eyed for cuts in good part because of Project Voyage, which has pinned this group as too large. As BI reported on Wednesday, Goldman’s VP ranks have become so bloated that its VPs have been increasingly reporting to other VPs rather than managing directors. Compensation for client-facing VPs can reach $1 million, including base salary and bonuses, the former employee estimated.
In addition to thinning out bloated parts of the organizational chart, Project Voyage will pinpoint employees to relocate from Goldman’s New York City headquarters, located in lower Manhattan, to lower-cost locations such as Dallas, Texas; and Salt Lake City, Utah, according to people familiar with the program.
The plan also calls for jobs lost through the SRA to be backfilled in lower-cost locations rather than New York, this person said.
Goldman divisional heads are compiling their lists of cuts and relocations through their chief operating teams. On Wall Street, divisional COOs tend to oversee the administrative functions for their teams.
Goldman’s office in Dallas is on track to increase from its current headcount of about 4,600 employees to 5,000 by the time it opens a $500 million state-of-the-art campus in 2028. The city’s mayor previously authorized $18 million in tax incentives for the firm if it meets that target. The incentives are valid through the end of 2028.
Reed Alexander is a correspondent at Business Insider covering Goldman Sachs and Wall Street banks. He can be reached via email at [email protected], or SMS/the encrypted app Signal at (561) 247-5758.
