The Exchange · Oct 14, 2026 · 44m · 36m saved
With David Solomon, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs · Robin Brooks, Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution
Goldman Sachs beat the highest Wall Street estimate for its quarterly earnings per share by $2.
David Solomon, chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, told CNBC's Kate Rooney on The Exchange that the quarter-to-quarter coverage of his bank misses what changed underneath it. Trading and underwriting still swing with markets, but 45% of Goldman's revenue is now what David calls "durable, recurring."
"I think one of the things that's missed in the narrative of day to day kind of reporting and trading [is] we've been working for eight years to really grow our franchise and increase the durability of our revenues." — David Solomon
David has spent those eight years taking Goldman's asset- and wealth-management fees from under $5 billion to a $15 billion run rate. The same episode carried Robin Brooks, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, on the Fed, and CNBC's Eamon Javers on a Justice Department case against an OpenAI engineer.
The full episode is covered here so you can skip it. 44 minutes of audio, 8 minutes of reading.
Here are the 10 insights that matter.
Key Takeaways
45% of Goldman's revenue is now "durable, recurring", not trading and underwriting
AI and heavily indebted governments are competing for the same capital, in David's account, and that is pushing on rates
Capital for AI is available, but not to everyone at a low price, David said in reply to Broadcom CEO Hock Tan
The IPO market is open to Anthropic and OpenAI; what delays deals is price
David denied any succession process at Goldman and expects to return to the same conference next year
Robin Brooks expects the Fed not to hike in October, and warned that could set off another bond-market selloff
His trade is short the dollar and long gold
1. 45% of Revenue Is Durable
Kate interviewed David at Goldman's Builders and Innovators Summit, after a quarter in which the bank beat the highest Wall Street estimate for earnings per share by $2. David said the daily story about the bank misses eight years spent making its revenue more durable.
Goldman Sachs now gets 45% of its revenue from durable, recurring sources
"We have a big, durable, diverse business in global banking and markets and asset and wealth management." — David Solomon
The clearest measure is fees in asset and wealth management. They have grown from under $5 billion to a $15 billion run rate. That leaves less of Goldman's revenue tied to cyclical trading and underwriting income.
