Ed Emerson has been one in all Goldman Sachs’s highest paid executives in latest instances—the truth is, he made an estimated $100 million during the last three years, beating the pay awarded to the funding financial institution’s CEO David Solomon of $77.5 million.
Now, the 47-year-old Emerson, who leads the funding financial institution’s commodities buying and selling division, is stepping down from his function in March, in keeping with an inner memo despatched on Tuesday seen by Fortune.
Emerson, a British citizen born in Argentina and primarily based in New York, joined Goldman as an analyst in 1999, steadily climbing the ranks over time. The commodities unit, the place he labored, has been a key a part of the funding financial institution’s enterprise following its acquisition of J. Aron & Co in 1981.
“He played a critical role in advancing the firm’s oil business,” wrote Ashok Varadhan, Dan Dees and Jim Esposito, who lead Goldman’s international banking and markets operations.
Underneath Emerson’s management in recent times, the commodities buying and selling division navigated volatilities from the COVID-19 pandemic to the Ukraine warfare, throughout which power costs wavered dramatically.
The division has a document of previous leaders who went on to carry influential roles greater up within the firm—former CEO Lloyd Blankfein is one instance, Bloomberg reported.
Though Emerson will retire from his function in buying and selling, he’ll proceed to remain on the firm as an adviser in the course of the transition, a Goldman spokesperson confirmed to Fortune. He will probably be succeeded by two of his deputies, Qin Xiao and Nitin Jindal, who will co-lead the enterprise.
Emerson’s time at Goldman
CEO Solomon’s management type and enterprise selections have come under scrutiny inside and outside the firm. His efforts foraying into industrial banking were unsuccessful, and he undertook a number of different restructuring plans throughout Goldman’s enterprise. Including to inner friction, information leaked that the financial institution deliberate to chop bonuses paid to bankers for 2022 by no less than 40% , the Financial Times reported final December.
Emerson was amongst Solomon’s critics given his misstep with attempting to pivot to shopper banking, in keeping with Bloomberg.
The worldwide commodities chief noticed revenues for his desk surge to over $3 billion final yr, due to excessive oil and fuel costs. The earlier two years additionally noticed comparable highs in his division’s revenues, which helped Emerson pocket $100 million since 2020.
Exterior work, he’s earned a fame for his sensible jokes—on a visit to Costa Rica, he threw pretend snakes round the home to scare the group he was touring with, in keeping with Bloomberg.
