Banking titan Goldman Sachs is moving to reduce headcount, even after posting multi-billion-dollar profits in the third quarter of 2025.
The New York bank reports net earnings of $4.10 billion for the third quarter, with revenue climbing above $15 billion.
Net revenues in Global Banking & Markets grew 18% on a year-over-year (YoY) basis at $10.12 billion for the quarter ending in September. At the same time, investment banking fees were $2.66 billion, a 42% increase over the same period.
While the bank reaps billions of dollars in profits in just one quarter, it tells its employees to brace for another round of job cuts before 2025 expires, Bloomberg reports.
In a memo, Goldman says it will “constrain headcount growth through the end of the year” and implement a “limited reduction in roles across the firm.” The cuts come under its new “OneGS 3.0” strategy aimed at long-term efficiency.
The bank says the restructuring is tied to a multi-year push to embed AI into the bank’s operations. The rollout covers client onboarding, lending processes, regulatory reporting, and vendor management.
Say CEO David Solomon, president John Waldron, and CFO Denis Coleman in a memo,
“While we are still in the early innings in terms of assessing where AI solutions can best be deployed, it’s become increasingly clear that our operational efficiency goals need to reflect the gains that will come from these transformational technologies.”
They add that the firm’s ability to realize those benefits depends on speeding up internal processes.
“For Goldman to fully benefit from the promise of AI, we need greater speed and agility in all facets of our operations. This doesn’t just mean retooling our platforms.”
Solomon echoes that theme in the official earnings release.
“Longer term, we are prioritizing the need to operate more efficiently to seamlessly deliver the firm to our clients helped by new AI technologies.”
The bank’s workforce stood at roughly 48,300 at the end of September, about 1,800 higher than last year despite earlier rounds of job cuts.
Last week, Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski warned that a major wave of job displacement is inevitable as automation spreads beyond banking and finance.
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