Goldman Sachs boss David Solomon quits DJing at high profile events after appearing at last year’s Lollapalooza

• Solomon, 61, has quit his DJ ‘side hustle’ after criticism that it was a distraction
• His last high-profile performance was at Chicago’s Lollapalooza in July 2022
• Goldman Sachs on Tuesday reported earnings dropped 33% last quarter 

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon has quit his ‘side hustle’ as a DJ following criticism that it was a distraction from his work leading the investment bank, which on Tuesday reported a one-third decline in profits for the latest quarter. 

Solomon’s last high-profile DJ performance was at Chicago’s Lollapalooza music festival in July 2022, following which he decided to wind down his performances due to unwanted media attention, people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times on Monday.

The 61-year-old executive, whose compensation package at Goldman totaled $25 million last year, started DJing under the stage name ‘D-Sol’ in 2015 and founded his own record label in 2018, donating all proceeds to charities that fight addiction.

But according to FT, he decided to back off the hobby after it drew criticism from disgruntled bankers within Goldman, who were angry about lower pay and perceived strategic missteps at the bank.

A Goldman spokesman told the outlet: ‘This is not news. David hasn’t publicly DJed an event in well over a year, which we have confirmed multiple times in the past.’

‘Music was not a distraction from David’s work. The media attention became a distraction,’ the spokesman said.

In February, the New York Times published a harshly critical article examining whether Solomon’s DJ gigs posed ‘potential conflicts of interest’ with his day job at Goldman. 

Citing insiders, the article claimed that Solomon had used Goldman employees to manage his DJ schedule, and made a contact through the bank who helped secure the valuable right to remix Whitney Houston’s hit ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’.

A Goldman spokesman at the time dismissed the notion of any conflict of interest, saying ‘both David and Goldman Sachs have been scrupulous in keeping the relationship separate.’

The Instagram page devoted to Solomon’s DJ hobby, and another for his label Payback Records, have not posted new updates since last November. 

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs on Tuesday reported financial results for the quarter that ended on September 30, revealing profits dropped 33 percent to $2.06 billion, down from $3.07 billion one year ago.

The decline was less severe than Wall Street analysts had expected, but the company’s shares declined nearly 2 percent in morning trading.

Goldman’s ill-fated foray into consumer banking, which has lost $3 billion over three years, continued to weigh on profits. 

The bank saw a notable rise in expenses in the quarter, as it took a write-down of $506 million on lending platform GreenSky, which facilitates home improvement loans for consumers. 

Real estate investments were another drag on earnings as the bank booked an impairment charge of $358 million compared, with $485 million in the second quarter.

Commercial real estate loans, which have emerged as a risk for banks as interest rates rise, accounted for 14 percent of the total loan portfolio of Goldman.

Goldman had a headcount of 45,900 at the end of September, up 3 percent from a quarter ago, but down nearly 7 percent from the year-ago period.

The bank has laid off thousands of employees this year, including a round of cuts in January that was its largest since the 2008 financial crisis.

Solomon has pushed to shift the firm’s focus back to its traditional strengths – investment banking and trading, and aims to grow in asset and wealth management. 

‘We’re confident that the work we’re doing now provides us a much stronger platform for 2024,’ Solomon said in a statement.

‘I also expect a continued recovery in both capital markets and strategic activity if conditions remain conducive,” he added.

Goldman’s investment banking fees of $1.55 billion was largely unchanged from last year, as debt underwriting activity resumed and the market for initial public offerings picked up. 

Goldman was an underwriter for several high-profile IPOs in September, including SoftBank Group’s chip designer Arm Holdings and grocery delivery app Instacart.

The public debuts sparked optimism about a recovery in the IPO market, but the lukewarm reception to Germany’s sandal maker Birkenstock raised fresh doubts.

Investment banking results have been mixed this earnings season, with JPMorgan Chase reporting a 6 percent decline in revenue, while Citigroup said fees jumped 34 percent. Morgan Stanley is set to report its earnings on Wednesday.