115,000 people have left Goldman Sachs. Few do this next
Getting a job at Goldman Sachs might be your (career) aim in life, but it’s not the be all end all. There is a life after Goldman – but there is one path further in life where you might not meet fellow ex-Goldmanites.
Who is your Ideal Employer in finance? 💥 Answer our survey for a chance to win $1k
By its own admission, Goldman Sachs has around 115,000 alumni worldwide. The firm says that only 250 of them are “CEOs, managing partners, or founders” at what it calls “leading companies”. Goldman describes “leading” companies as those with a market capitalization of at least $1bn or with assets under management (AuM) of at least $5bn.
CompaniesMarketCap, a public data tracker, estimates that there are 5,522 companies in the world with a market capitalization of at least $1bn. It’s harder to estimate how many firms have AuM of at least $5bn, but it’s likely in the thousands as well, with hundreds of hedge funds and hundreds of private equity firms alone fitting the bill, without delving into asset managers, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and the likes.
The fact that there are only 250 former Goldman people in these thousands (possibly over ten thousand) seats seems odd. Goldman Sachs has its pick of the litter when hiring, and the bank thinks only 0.8% of people fit the bill to join it. It appears the rest of the world doesn’t think that highly of them.
Perhaps more disappointingly for Goldman, only 45 of its alumni are “government officials and public servants.” The company used to be called “Government Sachs” once upon a time, and it has contributed alumni to high office: treasury secretaries Steven Mnuchin and Hank Paulson in the United States, and European Central Bank president Mario Draghi for example. Australian prime minister Malcom Turnbull is another example. Apparently public service is no longer in vogue for Goldman’s people.
Even fewer (40+) ex-Goldmanites work in investor relations. And only 15+ own or run sports teams. Presumably you have to be a hedge fund manager like Steve Cohen for that.
Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: +44 7537 182250 (SMS, WhatsApp or voicemail). Telegram: @SarahButcher. Click here to fill in our anonymous form, or email editortips@efinancialcareers.com. Signal also available.
Bear with us if you leave a comment at the bottom of this article: all our comments are moderated by human beings. Sometimes these humans might be asleep, or away from their desks, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. Eventually it will – unless it’s offensive or libelous (in which case it won’t.)
