Goldman Sachs pulled back the curtain on one aspect of its reorganization Friday, reframing its earnings since 2020 along the divisions the bank created in October.
Goldman’s Platform Solutions segment — which includes Apple Card, home-improvement lender GreenSky and a portion of Marcus business aimed at corporate clients — has lost more than $3 billion since the start of 2020, according to the bank’s Securities and Exchange Commission filing Friday.
The statement does not include 2022’s fourth quarter — the results of which Goldman is set to release Tuesday. That statement could push Platform Solutions’ deficit since 2020 to $4 billion, sources told Bloomberg.
The earnings breakdown shows acceleration everywhere in Platform Solutions. Net revenues jumped from $334 million in 2020 to $989 million in the first nine months of 2022, taking in $640 million in 2021 along the way.
However, operating expenses roughly doubled in the unit — from $630 million in 2020 to $1.26 billion in 2022 through Sept. 30. Ditto the bank’s provision for credit losses. The bank held back $942 million related to Platform Services businesses throughout the first nine months of 2022, compared with $487 million for all of 2020.
Overall, Platform Services lost $783 million in 2020, $1.05 billion in 2021 and $1.21 billion in 2022 through Sept. 30. The 2021 figure stems mainly from Apple Card-related matters, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the numbers.
Friday’s figures do not give a complete picture of the health of Marcus, the consumer-banking unit Goldman launched in 2016. The bank in October split Marcus between two of its new divisions, with much of it falling under asset and wealth management — a division whose bottom line swayed from $2.9 billion in 2020 to $10.7 billion in 2021 and back down to $1.3 billion over 2022’s first three quarters.
Marcus, though, has been a persistent target of layoff talk. It may be April, however, before the full impact of headcount reduction in Marcus is known. That’s when the bank may publish its employee count along with first-quarter earnings. Goldman began a presumed 3,200-person cull this week.
If it wants to get ahead of the numbers, Goldman could also detail its Marcus job cuts at the bank’s February investor day.
Friday’s filing served as an update of sorts: Previous financial data Goldman had shared show $1.3 billion in losses in the bank’s consumer business from 2016 to mid-2019. The bank had initially intended for its consumer business to break even by the end of 2022. Platform Solutions executives are now forecasting profitability by 2025, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
