Goldman Sachs CEO drops DJ side hustle
David Solomon, formerly known as D-Sol while behind the decks, has retired from DJing high-profile events amid criticism that the attention was distracting him from his daytime gig.
David Solomon (fka D-Sol) DJs at Watermill, New York’s the Safe & Sound Drive-In Concert Fundraiser in July 2020. Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Safe & Sound.
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon has put down the decks, retiring from his off-hours gig as DJ D-Sol due to “unwanted media attention,” the Financial Times reports. As Stereogum notes, this means his polarizing performance at Lollapalooza 2022 will likely be the last of its kind.
David Solomon became the CEO of Goldman Sachs in October 2018. As The FADER reported at the time, he had previously served as the widely loathed investment banking firm’s co-president while mastering his craft as a vibe curator. Now 61, Solomon says he picked up DJing as a hobby more than a decade ago, and was performing in New York, the Bahamas, and Miami as early as 2017.
Solomon’s side hustle has come under scrutiny in recent months, after the company’s profits dropped drastically in the second quarter of this year. The company bounced back in Q3, performing just above expectations. Still, according to Insider, more than 200 former Goldman partners have ditched the firm during Solomon’s term as CEO — a sign of low morale under his leadership.
Speaking to the Financial Times, a source clarified that it was not Solomon’s love of EDM that forced his early retirement. Rather, the prying eyes of the press were what ultimately forced him to resign from his second job. “Music was not a distraction from David’s work,” the source said. “The media attention became a distraction.”
The FADER has reached out to Goldman Sach’s media relations office for further comment.