The trickle of senior executives leaving Goldman Sachs is turning into a flood.
The Wall Street powerhouse, which has witnessed a string of high-profile departures in recent months, is facing a hollowing out of its ranks not seen since the firm established its partnership pool 13 years ago.
The exodus comes as Goldman, along with the rest of Wall Street, turns to cost cutting as new regulations and lingering economic challenges eat into profits, as well as bonus pools.
Yesterday, Chaim Howard Wietschner, 44, became the latest partner to leave. An internal announcement revealed that the senior hedge fund honcho was set to bolt.
Named a partner in November 2002, Wietschner will follow more than 50 partners who have opted to “retire” over the past several months. Indeed, Wietschner’s departure is the third in the past two weeks.
Others out the door include a head of investment banking, Jeffrey Moslow, 47, and Donald Mullen, 53, the firm’s head of credit and mortgages.
Earlier in the year, trading co-heads David Heller, 44, and Edward Eisler, 42, also announced their plans to retire. One of the firm’s co-heads of investment management, Ed Forst, 50, resigned late last year.
In addition, Lucas van Praag, 51, a partner and the firm’s top communications director, is expected to retire at the end of next month.
Goldman is fighting on multiple fronts accusations that the firm’s wheeling and dealing contributed to the financial meltdown — allegations that have caused the bank titan to lose much of its former luster.
Making matters worse, Goldman and its peers are battling stiff regulatory headwinds, which are pressuring profits and forcing firms to slash costs. In its case, Goldman reported fourth-quarter profit plunged 57 percent to $1.01 billon from the year-earlier period.
“It should be understood that Goldman is going through a major cost-cutting campaign, and as a result of that a lot of people are going to lose their jobs,” said bank analyst Dick Bove at Rochdale Securities.
Sources said the departures at Goldman are unusual because up until now many of the firm’s top leaders had opted not to jump ship, as a sign of loyalty to the franchise during one of the toughest times for the financial industry.
One top executive who isn’t expected to be leaving anytime soon is Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein, who, sources tell The Post, plans on sticking around for at least another two years.