After graduating, he applied to
Goldman Sachs for a two-year analyst position but was rejected, leading him to apply to
Irving Trust, which he has referred to as a "graduate school at [a] bank." On one occasion, he assisted a struggling movie theater company in
Dallas, Texas, to raise money through a "complicated
bond transaction."
Goldman Sachs Solomon worked with a variety of Goldman Sachs managers during the late 1990s which inspired his move to the firm in 1999 to work with their
leveraged finance team as a partner, aged 37. His move from Bear Stearns was "shocking" to contemporaries who believed him to be on the "leadership track at Bear." Starting in 2006, he was promoted to and spent the next 10 years leading Goldman's
investment banking division. During his time as head, he implemented "year-end compensation roundtables" where he would pepper the executives with questions about their business practices in order to "weed out under-performers." Upon his departure, he was credited with professionalizing the investment banking division and doubling profit margins from 11% to 22% with sales rising by 70%. In April 2014,
Sheldon Adelson, a client of his from Drexel Burnham, offered Solomon operational control over the
Las Vegas Sands casinos. Solomon declined the offer because Adelson "wasn’t willing to give up day-to-day control, and [he] didn’t want to be an understudy." Despite Goldman Sachs not disclosing his total compensation packages,
SEC and
IRS filings indicate that Solomon was paid a base salary of
US$1.85 million with an award of restricted stock worth about $10 million in January 2015. After
Gary Cohn resigned from Goldman to become the Chief Economic Advisor to
Donald Trump, then
President of the United States, Solomon was elevated to president and co-
chief operating officer along with
Harvey Schwartz in December 2016. In a series of interviews in October 2017, Solomon detailed his advice for students and future employees at Goldman: know how to write and speak publicly, know accounting, and never lose sight of what you are passionate about. Under Solomon's leadership, the bank has increased pay for
programmers, loosened
dress codes, modernized computer systems, instituted video interviews, and created a "real-time
performance review" system for new employees. Solomon received an $11.85 million compensation package in January 2017 and January 2018. It was estimated that Solomon holds 224,030 (0.059%) shares of
Goldman Sachs Group (GS) which was valued at $58 million in January 2018. In March 2020, Solomon was granted some US$27.5 million in compensation. This was made up of his base pay, which was a $2 million salary, as well as a $7.65 million cash bonus. On top of that, he also was granted $17.85 million in long-term incentives. On March 12, 2018, Goldman announced that Schwartz, the company's co-chief operating officer and president, would be resigning, leaving Solomon as the second-in-command. Hours after the announcement, media outlets–both domestic and international–informally designated Solomon as
Lloyd Blankfein's sole
heir apparent. At a board meeting on February 21, 2018, Blankfein expressed an interest and preference for Solomon to succeed him. Solomon has repeatedly advocated for a reformation of Goldman's
company culture. He expressed an interest in lowering the maximum hours worked during normal business days from somewhere near 90 hours a week, to somewhere near 70 to 75 hours a week, when not actively engaged in
closing a deal. Prior to assuming the company's presidency, he tracked the hours worked by his subordinates and frequently stepped in to send employees home. Solomon spoke at the November 2022
Global Financial Leaders' Investment Summit, with the
Hong Kong Democracy Council claiming that his presence, along with other financial executives, legitimized the Hong Kong government's whitewashing of the
erosion of freedoms in the city. Several members of
Congress also warned that US financial executives should not attend the Summit, saying "Their presence only serves to legitimise the swift dismantling of Hong Kong's autonomy, free press and the rule of law by Hong Kong authorities acting along with the Chinese Communist Party." Solomon is a member of
The Business Council in Washington, D.C. == Music ==