Alignment: Implemented an IPO board-diversity requirement under CEO David Solomon in 2020 (refusing to underwrite IPOs without a diverse board member); ended that policy in February 2025 citing legal developments and dropped its DEI section from its annual filing the same month.
Summary
Goldman Sachs in 2020 imposed an IPO board-diversity requirement — pledging to refuse to underwrite IPOs of companies whose boards were entirely white and male — that became one of Wall Street’s highest-profile corporate-diversity commitments. In February 2025, Goldman ended that policy citing recent court decisions on race-conscious decision-making, and the firm removed its DEI section from its annual SEC filing the same month.
Claims & Sources
Claim 1: Goldman Sachs ended its IPO board-diversity policy in February 2025.
Source: Reuters — Goldman Sachs ends IPO diversity policy citing legal developments.
Claim 2: Goldman dropped the diversity and inclusion section from its 2024 annual filing.
Source: CNBC — Goldman drops diversity and inclusion section from annual filing.
COVID-19 vaccine mandate posture: Required all U.S. employees to receive COVID-19 booster shots and pushed back return-to-office for unvaccinated staff.
Source: Reuters — Goldman Sachs will require U.S. employees to get booster shots
Related Brands in Banks & Finance
Bank of America · JPMorgan Chase · Wells Fargo · BlackRock
DEI hiring goals & quotas (heavy-weighted criterion): Goldman Sachs publicly maintains aspirational race- and gender-based hiring goals and from 2020 onward refused to underwrite IPOs for US/European companies whose boards lacked diverse directors, an explicit race/gender-based board-composition mandate it has continued to defend.
Source: Reuters — Goldman Sachs board-diversity IPO rule
2025 DEI rollback (heavy-weighted criterion update): In February 2025, Goldman Sachs ended its IPO diversity pledge — the policy that since 2020 had required US/European IPO candidates to have diverse boards. This was one of the most prominent corporate DEI reversals of 2025.