Goldman Sachs: how the business works

Each line = amount ÷ total money in × 100. Lines may not add to exactly $100 because of rounding.

Companies, governments and big investors pay Goldman Sachs fees and trading spreads for deals, trades and money management; most of the money goes on interest and pay, and what is left is profit.

• 01In FY2025, the Global Banking & Markets segment brought in 71.1% of net revenues and Asset & Wealth Management 28.6%.
• 02Of every $100 that came in during FY2025, $53.4 went out as interest to depositors and lenders and $15.1 went to employees.

• Investors trading stocks (Equities)

  28%

  of revenue

  Spreads, commissions and financing on stock trades for funds and other institutions

• Investors trading bonds, currencies and commodities (FICC)

  25%

  of revenue

  Spreads and financing on fixed income, currency and commodity trades

• Fund and wealth clients paying fees

  21%

  of revenue

  Management and other fees ($11.5 billion) plus incentive fees ($489 million) for managing their money

• Companies raising money or doing deals

  16%

  of revenue

  Advisory, equity underwriting and debt underwriting fees

• Private bank clients

  6%

  of revenue

  Interest on loans to and deposits from wealthy clients (private banking and lending)

• Goldman's own investments

  2%

  of revenue

  Gains and income on equity and debt investments held in Asset & Wealth Management

• Other banking and markets clients

  2%

  of revenue

  Other Global Banking & Markets revenue, including transaction banking

• Apple Card customers (Platform Solutions)

  0%

  of revenue

  Card interest and fees, after a $2.26 billion reduction from Apple Card markdowns and contract termination costs when the card loans were moved to held for sale

Diluted EPS for common stockholders, after preferred stock dividends ($876 million in FY2025).

Net interest income = interest earned on loans and securities minus interest paid to depositors and lenders. Revenue (net of interest expense) = net interest income + noninterest income (fees and other income). Provision for credit losses = money set aside for loans that may not be repaid. Net income is the amount for common stockholders. Fiscal years are the company's own (Fiscal year ends on December 31 (calendar year)).

• Revenue is total net revenues (net interest income plus noninterest revenues), as Goldman reports it. Interest income is shown before interest expense: $80,373 million against $66,814 million in FY2025.
• The margin column is Goldman's annual net yield on interest-earning assets from the 10-K statistical disclosures; Goldman does not report a net interest margin or a quarterly yield.
• Loans, the allowance and both ratios cover loans at amortized cost only. Loans at fair value and held for sale, including the $19.7 billion Apple Card portfolio at Dec 31, 2025, carry no allowance; gross loans of all kinds were $239,882 million then.
• Noninterest-bearing deposits are left blank: Goldman reports only average balances ($5,753 million in 2025) and says substantially all of its deposits pay interest.
• The provision for credit losses was a net benefit of $1,113 million in FY2025 and $2,123 million in Q4 FY2025, mainly the $2.48 billion reserve release when the Apple Card loans were moved to held for sale.
• CET1 is under the standardized approach, the lower of Goldman's two ratios in every year shown. ROTE is Goldman's own (non-GAAP) measure.

Learn: What is net interest income and margin? NII and NIM at real US banks · How to read a US earnings release: Nvidia's Q2 fiscal 2027 · What a margin means: dollars kept per $100

• David Solomon

  Chairman and Chief Executive Officer · since 2018

  CEO and a director since October 2018 and Chairman since January 2019; previously President and co-head of the Investment Banking Division.

• John E. Waldron

  President and Chief Operating Officer · since 2018

  President and COO since October 2018 and a director since February 2025; previously co-head of the Investment Banking Division.

• Denis P. Coleman III

  Chief Financial Officer · since 2022

  CFO since January 2022; previously Deputy CFO and co-head of the Global Financing Group.

• Demand

  Revenue moves with markets and deal activity

  Investment banking fees fell from $14.1 billion in FY2021 to $6.2 billion in FY2023. Revenue from Goldman's own investments fell from $11.9 billion to $1.3 billion between FY2021 and FY2025.

  Watch Investment banking fees and FICC and Equities net revenues in each quarterly release.

• Regulation

  Capital cushion has narrowed

  The standardized CET1 ratio fell from 14.3% at Dec 31, 2025 to 12.4% at Sep 30, 2026 as risk-weighted assets grew. The requirement rose to 11.4% from Jan 1, 2026, when its global systemically important bank (G-SIB) surcharge went to 3.5%.

  Watch CET1 ratio against the 11.4% requirement each quarter, and the Federal Reserve's stress capital buffer each June.

• Legal

  1MDB guarantee and other legal claims

  Malaysia demanded a final payment of about $1 billion under Goldman's 1MDB guarantee in August 2025; Goldman says no payment should be required, and arbitration is ongoing. Goldman estimated reasonably possible losses above its reserves of about $1.1 billion at Sep 30, 2026, for matters it can estimate.

  Watch Legal proceedings notes in each 10-Q and 10-K.

• Cash and liquidity

  Cost of funding

  Interest paid to depositors and lenders was $66.8 billion in FY2025, or $53.4 of every $100 that came in. Substantially all deposits pay interest; at Dec 31, 2025, uninsured deposits were $120.30 billion in US offices and $79.79 billion outside the US.

  Watch Interest expense and deposits by channel in each quarterly presentation.

• Concentration

  Real estate and corporate loans

  Commercial real estate loans were $37.4 billion (16%) of $239.9 billion of gross loans at Dec 31, 2025, and corporate loans $30.7 billion (13%). In FY2023, real estate impairments in consolidated investment entities cost $1.46 billion.

  Watch Net charge-offs and the allowance in each 10-Q.

• Execution

  Leaving the Apple Card and adding acquisitions

  Goldman expects the move of the Apple Card program to another issuer to take about 24 months from December 2025. It is also integrating Industry Ventures and Innovator Capital Management and has agreed to buy NEOS Investments and LCN Capital Partners.

  Watch Platform Solutions results and acquisition closings in each 10-Q.

• Competition

  Competition from larger and newer firms

  Goldman's 10-K says it competes with institutions that are larger and have more capital, and with firms offering products it does not, such as cryptocurrencies and stablecoins.

  Watch Market share comments and the competition risk factors in the next 10-K.

What does Goldman Sachs do?

Goldman Sachs is a bank holding company based in New York that advises companies on deals, trades with large investors and manages money for institutions and wealthy people. Its clients include corporations, financial institutions, governments and individuals, and it supervised $4.10 trillion of client assets at Sep 30, 2026.

How does Goldman Sachs make money?

Goldman Sachs had net revenues of $58.3 billion in FY2025: $18.0 billion from market making, $13.6 billion of net interest income, $11.7 billion from investment management, $9.3 billion from investment banking, $4.0 billion of commissions and fees and $1.6 billion of other principal transactions.

What is Goldman Sachs's business model?

Goldman Sachs earns fees for advice, share and bond sales and money management, plus trading and financing revenue from big investors, funded by deposits and borrowings. In FY2025 it earned $80.4 billion of interest income and paid $66.8 billion of interest expense, so net interest income was 23.3% of net revenues.

Is Goldman Sachs profitable?

Goldman Sachs reported net earnings to common stockholders of $16.3 billion in FY2025, up from $13.5 billion in FY2024, and $16.9 billion in the first nine months of 2026. Its return on average common equity was 15.0% in FY2025.

What is Goldman Sachs's revenue by segment?

In FY2025, Goldman Sachs's Global Banking & Markets segment had net revenues of $41.5 billion (71.1%), Asset & Wealth Management $16.7 billion (28.6%) and Platform Solutions $151 million (0.3%), after a $2.26 billion reduction from Apple Card markdowns and contract termination costs in Platform Solutions.

How much does Goldman Sachs earn from trading?

Goldman Sachs's FICC business (bonds, currencies and commodities) had net revenues of $14.5 billion in FY2025 and its Equities business $16.5 billion, together 53.3% of the firm's net revenues.

How much does Goldman Sachs earn from investment banking?

Goldman Sachs earned $9.3 billion of investment banking fees in FY2025: $4.7 billion from advising on deals, $1.8 billion from equity underwriting and $2.8 billion from debt underwriting.

How much does Goldman Sachs earn from asset and wealth management?

Goldman Sachs's Asset & Wealth Management segment had net revenues of $16.7 billion in FY2025, including $11.5 billion of management and other fees. Its assets under supervision were $3.61 trillion at Dec 31, 2025.

Who owns Goldman Sachs?

Goldman Sachs has one class of common stock with one vote per share. At the Mar 2, 2026 record date, the largest holders named in its 2026 proxy were The Vanguard Group (9.68%), BlackRock (7.80%) and State Street (6.65%); directors and executive officers held about 0.55%.

Does Goldman Sachs pay a dividend?

Goldman Sachs declared dividends of $14.00 per share for FY2025 and declared a quarterly dividend of $5.00 per share on Oct 12, 2026. It also bought back $12.36 billion of its common stock in FY2025.

Numbers come only from tier 1 and tier 2 sources. Read how we research.