The bank headed by David Solomon has enjoyed an upturn in earnings and valuation.

Goldman posted its second-best operating result in ten years - after the year 2021, characterized by an extraordinary financial bubble. The past financial year was excellent at all levels, in both advisory and asset management activities.

David Solomon promised to develop the latter when he was appointed to replace Lloyd Blankfein in 2019. His word is kept: Goldman directly supervises no less than $3,800 billion, including $525 billion in its alternative investments segment, and generated record management fees and commissions over the past twelve months.

The bank's earnings per share have more than tripled in ten years, now reaching $41, while return on equity has returned to double-digit territory after two years below the 10% threshold. As in the case of Jefferies, the market had largely anticipated this development since, by 2024, Goldman's valuation had risen from x1 to x1.6 its shareholders' equity.

Goldman now estimates its most stable revenue base at between $35 and $40 billion per annum, up sharply since the beginning of Solomon's tenure - when it was around $25 billion. The bank's recent push into the highly fashionable private debt segment should further consolidate this base.

These very good results serve as a barometer of Wall Street's moods, at least as much as they strengthen David Solomon's position at the head of the bank, which was once under fire. Yesterday, he distinguished himself by commenting on the declining attractiveness of listed markets compared to private alternatives.

Capital is now plentiful on the private markets, and soliciting them allows large groups to avoid the transparency and ruthless rigors of a stock market listing. The examples of Stripe, SpaceX and OpenAI - all three of which remain private but have no trouble raising capital - should continue to be emulated.

Institutions such as Goldman Sachs - as well as major asset managers like KKR or Blackstone - have everything to gain from this development: they lose IPO-related revenues, but make up for it in consulting and intermediation fees afterwards, while considerably strengthening their hold on their clients.