CNBC Exclusive: Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon 9/7/23

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

CNBC Squawk on the Street is brought to you by Progressive, where drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $700 on average, and auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Quote today at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $698 by new customer survey to save with Progressive between June 2021 and May 2022 Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations.

David Faber (0:27)

David, thank you for both having us here at the conference and joining me for now.

David Solomon (0:32)

Well, I'm delighted to be with you, David. And I have to start by thanking you for being here. I mean, this is a super conference. We've got over 2,500 investors here for a couple of days, 200 companies, you know, a lot of good dialogue. There's a lot going on in the technology space. And, you know, it's great to be out here, and it's great to have you out here.

David Faber (0:48)

Yeah, it's great to have both of us fly across the country so we can talk to each other when our offices are hard.

David Solomon (0:53)

Well, I flew across the country to be at the conference and talk to a bunch of clients, but I'm delighted to talk to you too.

David Faber (0:58)

I'm so glad you're with me as well, David. All right, now that we're laughing a little bit, I do want to start off on kind of what I've rarely seen in my career, sort of this highly unusual avalanche of stories focused really, David, on your personality defects. I mean, it's been bizarre, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, New York Magazine.

Why has this happened?

David Solomon (1:21)

You know, I can't give you a good reason why it's happened. What I can't say to you, David, is it's not fun, you know, obviously watching some of the personal attacks in the press, obviously. We're a big organization, we're doing a lot of things in the world, and you know, we should be scrutinized, and we are scrutinized, and you know, we watch that scrutiny very, very carefully. I don't recognize the caricature that's been painted of me. I have a lot of colleagues and clients I talk to, they don't recognize that caricature either, and I tell you, a lot of them, particularly my colleagues, are not shy about expressing their personal views.

But look, I always reflect on it, you always look at it, and we're focused on doing what we're doing. I think we made a lot of progress in the last five years, growing the firm, serving our clients, executing on the strategy, and we're going to stay focused on that.

David Faber (2:12)

Yeah, and obviously we're going to talk about that, but do you feel, to your point, it's a rare thing to see these personal attacks. You were on a company, like a lot of guys were on a company, and ladies were on companies.

Do you think it's an orchestrated campaign of some kind? Is it based simply on the frustration of your partners because they didn't get paid as much in 2022 as they did in 21?

David Solomon (2:34)

Goldman Sachs is a very visible organization. If you go back and you look historically, there have been lots of times where the person sitting in this job has been scrutinized by the press. I'm going through a period where there's been a bunch of scrutiny. As I said to you, I reflect on it.

I try to understand it, always try to think about ways that we as an organization, and I personally can do better, but we're focused on running the firm. This actually isn't what we're focused on.

David Faber (2:59)

I know, but does it affect your ability to lead? I mean, David's not likable. He's a tough guy with a short fuse. He dehumanizes you when he talks to you. He doesn't have a personality.

I mean, on and on. Like, does that impact your ability to lead?

David Solomon (3:13)

I think that I wake up every day thinking about Goldman Sachs, thinking about our clients, trying to move forward. You've known me for a long time. In fact, David, you know, you were asked about this on TV a few weeks ago, and you said you thought I was doing a good job, you thought I was leading the firm effectively.

David Faber (3:28)

Well, I've dealt with you, David, and in fact, you've actually called me and sometimes even taken issue with some things I've said, and I don't get upset about it. In fact, there's one instance, I won't share it, where you were absolutely right, you may remember, during the pandemic.