David Solomon, Goldman Sachs interview with David Faber, September 7, 2023.
CNBC
The upcoming spate of tech IPOs could help kickstart muted capital markets, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon told CNBC’s David Faber.
Firms including chip designer Arm and Instacart have filed to go public, and firms which can be mulling listings will watch how those IPOs go, Solomon said Thursday through the interview.
“Over the course of the following few months, especially if Arm and a few of these other IPOs go well, I believe you are going to see a meaningful increase in activity,” Solomon said.
A rebound in IPOs and mergers could be welcome for Goldman and the remainder of Wall Street, which has handled a dearth of activity previously yr. After coming off a record yr for revenue in 2021, Solomon has needed to contend with internal dissent and criticism over his decisions and leadership style in a series of unflattering articles.
Solomon addressed the negative coverage, saying repeatedly that he didn’t recognize the “caricature’ of himself portrayed within the stories.
“It isn’t fun, you understand, watching a number of the personal attacks within the press,” Solomon said. “I do not recognize the caricature that is been painted of me. I even have a number of colleagues and clients I talked to, they do not recognize that caricature either.”
Throughout the wide-ranging interview, Solomon addressed tougher bank regulation, the paring back of Goldman’s ambitions in consumer finance, and the mergers market. Acquisitions will likely pick up as CEOs regain confidence in the approaching months, he said.
“The sentiment that I’m hearing from CEOs globally is attempting to get back at it,” Solomon said, though he cautioned that the mergers rebound would trail that of IPOs.
