Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted pay for its top executives, including its chief financial officer and departing general counsel, after a banner year for its shares.
The investment bank boosted President John Waldron's compensation package for 2025 by 18% to $45 million, according to a proxy filing Friday. The pay for Waldron, widely seen as a top contender to someday become chief executive officer, is more than most Wall Street bank CEOs.
CFO Denis Coleman and Executive Vice President John Rogers, a key envoy for the bank in Washington, both received 15% increases, to $31 million and $18.5 million, respectively. Rogers is also secretary to the board, a role that other banks typically reserve for their top lawyers.
Goldman gave an 11% raise to Kathryn Ruemmler, the general counsel who announced her resignation after the US Department of Justice released thousands of her emails with Jeffrey Epstein, which detailed valuable gifts she accepted from him and informal legal and media advice she provided to the late sex offender. Her total pay for 2025 was $25 million.
Ruemmler, who has received the support of CEO David Solomon and will testify before Congress next month, has said she needed to maintain a relationship with Epstein because of a client they shared. A spokesperson for Ruemmler said she has nothing to hide and knew of no ongoing criminal activity by Epstein.
In the filing, Goldman highlighted Ruemmler's "critical guidance" to the firm and said she championed "the importance of robust financial and nonfinancial risk management."
Goldman reported bumper financial results last year, fueled by record trading and banking revenue, and its stock rose more than most of its Wall Street peers. Meanwhile, the firm is looking to cut jobs and operational costs as it finds savings from the use of artificial intelligence.
In a letter to shareholders earlier on Friday, Solomon -- whose $47 million pay package was announced in January -- said he's confident the bank can outperform its financial targets in the near term.
Goldman is also set to face a series of shareholder challenges at its upcoming annual meeting, according to the proxy. Among them, the bank is being asked to thoroughly disclose its charitable giving, energy use and lobbying payments.
