Goldman Sachs is preparing to make its first round of layoffs since the outbreak of the pandemic, according to a report.
The Wall Street banking behemoth is expected to slash jobs across all departments as soon as next week, the New York Times reported Monday.
A Goldman spokesperson declined to comment when contacted by The Post.
The cuts would come amid the downturn in deal-making as the economy teeters on the verge of a recession caused by runaway inflation.
Before the pandemic, Goldman annually culled 1% to 5% of under-performers from its workforce every year. It halted the firings as business boomed during the pandemic.
This year’s possible resumption of layoffs come amid a dramatic slump in revenue. The Wall Street giant helmed by David Solomon reported second-quarter earnings of $2.93 billion, which was precipitously lower than the second quarter of 2021 when the bank hauled in $5.49 billion.
Investment banking was the driving force behind the slump — bringing in 41% less than it did a year ago. Trading revenue of $6.47 billion — up 32% year over year — slightly offset losses.
In July, The Post reported that talk of hiring freezes and firings was circulating at financial firms as soaring interest rates and recession fears tanked appetites for mergers, IPOs and other big corporate deals, according to sources.
Over the summer, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley both reported surprisingly steep profit drops. JPMorgan revealed its investment banking fees tanked 54% in the most recent quarter. Morgan Stanley said its equity underwriting fees were off 86%.
The looming layoffs come as the bank takes a more aggressive stance on bringing employees back to the office and ending all pandemic era perks like free coffee.
Solomon — who famously called working from home an “aberration” — has signaled the return to office with particular force. As first reported by The Post, Goldman told workers in a memo last month it planned to lift all COVID protocols after Labor Day — a sign it won’t accept excuses for employees to work from home.
In April, Solomon ended free daily car rides to and from the office, which the bank had begun offering at the start of the COVID outbreak, The Post was first to report. It now limits the perk to employees who work well into the evening, sources said.
Also in the spring, Goldman announced that employees will once again be on the hook for the cost of breakfast and lunch. Goldman did hike its meal allowance for dinner to $30 from $25 — two months after The Post reported staff were griping they couldn’t even buy a Chipotle dinner with the stingy stipend.
Last week, employees filing into the Wall Street giant’s headquarters in Lower Manhattan for a mandatory return to a five-day work week got an unwelcome surprise: The “free coffee” station had been wheeled away, sources told The Post.
The complimentary “grab and go” station at the entrance of 200 West St. — cold-brew, as well as stashes of French vanilla creamer, almond milk, soy milk and half-and-half — had appeared during the pandemic to encourage attendance, according to insiders.
But the brass has since determined it doesn’t need sweeteners to get people back to the office, sources told The Post. Instead, management believes the threat of getting fired should more than enough incentive, the sources said.