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By Saeed Azhar NEW YORK (Reuters) -Goldman Sachs has lost more than a dozen senior investment bankers this year, a higher number than normal, after internal shakeups and a sluggish start to 2025 drove them to seek new opportunities, according to three sources familiar with the situation. Some bankers left because they expected to be passed over for promotions this year, including to Goldman's elite partner class, while others exited because they expected meager bonuses after dealmaking stalled in the first half, according to two of the sources familiar with the situation who declined to be identified discussing personnel matters.  The scale of departures is being reported by Reuters for the first time.  Despite the departures, Goldman still tops Wall Street's league tables for mergers and acquisitions, and its fee volumes have also surged close to levels in 2021. Its broader investment banking net revenue in the nine months of the year rose to the highest since 2021, according to data from Dealogic. The bankers who departed this year joined rivals including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup, while others joined boutiques like Evercore. "We always look to run our firm in service of our clients and shareholders," a bank spokesperson said in a statement. "Goldman Sachs succeeds because of our exceptional teams and strength of our franchise." The bank will elevate new partners this year. In 2024, it appointed 95 new partners, including 26 women. It advised Electronic Arts on its $55 billion sale to a consortium of private equity firms and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund this year, and also advised Holcim on the spinoff of its North American business Amrize, now valued at $26 billion.  "There have been fewer deals overall, but larger in size, requiring less headcount," said Stephen Biggar, a banking analyst at Argus Research.  Megadeals across the industry jumped to $1.26 trillion in global mergers and acquisitions during the third quarter, up 40% year over year, according to Dealogic data. But 8,912 deals were signed, down 16% from last year, the worst third-quarter for deal volume in 20 years, according to the data. The surge in investment banking has also boosted Goldman's shares, which are up nearly 38% this year, outperforming the S&P Financial index's 11% rise. LEADERSHIP CHANGES Goldman made major leadership changes this year, introducing co-heads across its major divisions and adding six new members to its management committee. The firm also created a new financing division.  The Wall Street giant also pulled forward annual staffing cuts to the second quarter this year from September. The exercise typically targets a headcount reduction of 3% to 5% based on performance. Headcount fell 2% to 45,900 employees in the second quarter versus the first, according to a company filing. "The expectation for the bigger M&A environment has been in place for some time," said Macrae Sykes, portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds. "As such, I believe that Goldman Sachs is well prepared to take advantage of the tailwinds given their franchise and broad-based banking capabilities. Headcount may fluctuate, but not, in my opinion, the productiveness of the firm's banking culture." Below is a list of some of the Goldman bankers who have departed this year. They did not respond to requests for comment. Name New Company Role       Gabe Gelman Baker Brothers  Head of Capital Advisors Solutions Citigroup Managing Director, David Friedland Co-Head of North America Investment Banking Geddes Johnson FIS Head of Strategy and M&A Bennett Blau Evercore Managing Director, Medtech Todd Eagle Jefferies Managing Director, Head of US Real Estate JPMorgan Managing Director, Brett Miller Co-Head of Software Investment Banking JPMorgan Managing Director, Head Eric Quanbeck of Applied Technology JPMorgan Managing Director, Jonathan Business Services Slaughter Devin Wilde Morgan Stanley Managing Director BDT & MSD Managing Director, Ryan Nolan Partners Global Co-Head of Software Chris DiOrio Wells Fargo Managing Director, Head of Industrials M&A Wells Fargo Managing Director, Head Kieran Ryan of Sponsor M&A (Reporting by Saeed Azhar; Editing by Will Dunham)

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(Reuters) -StubHub Holdings' shares rose nearly 5% in premarket trading on Monday, as Wall Street analysts backed the ticketing platform's potential for long-term growth despite the stock's rocky debut last month. Brokerages began coverage on StubHub on an upbeat note after the end of the industry-mandated quiet period. "We believe through its well-established, dominant position in the secondary ticketing market, StubHub will be able to establish a formidable entry into the materially larger primary ticketing market," Evercore ISI analysts said, assigning an "outperform" rating. At $19.81 on Monday, the shares are already below its IPO price of $23.50, which suggests the market is not fully convinced about StubHub's ability to grow quickly or compete with bigger players, according to analysts. Its industry rivals have also struggled in the public market, except Ticketmaster-parent Live Nation. StubHub's stock performance contrasts sharply with recent tech IPOs such as Klarna and Figma, which saw double-digit gains in early trading days. "We believe STUB shares, trading at a discount to peers, offer compelling risk/reward as we expect strong execution in core resale and ads, while direct issuance expectations seem muted," J.P. Morgan analysts said while initiating coverage with an "outperform" rating. The company raised nearly $800 million in its long-awaited U.S. IPO, with proceeds earmarked for reducing its $2.4 billion debt. The listing marked StubHub's return to public markets after multiple delays, following its $4.05 billion acquisition by Viagogo in 2020 and earlier ownership under eBay. Founded in 2000, StubHub operates a ticketing marketplace in more than 200 countries, enabling buyers to purchase tickets for live events, including sports and music performances. J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs led a 14-firm underwriting syndicate for StubHub's IPO.  (Reporting by Rashika Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)

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By Nupur Anand NEW YORK (Reuters) -JPMorgan Chase launched a $1.5 trillion plan on Monday to facilitate, finance and invest in industries deemed critical to the U.S. national security and economic resilience, including defense, energy and advanced manufacturing. As part of the 10-year initiative, the largest U.S. lender also plans to hire more bankers and invest up to $10 billion into U.S. companies through direct equity and venture capital investments, focusing on fast-growing businesses and key manufacturers. The announcement comes as U.S. President Donald Trump's administration looks to modernize infrastructure and reduce dependence on foreign supply chains, particularly in sectors like pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, clean energy and rare earths. “It has become painfully clear that the United States has allowed itself to become too reliant on unreliable sources of critical minerals, products and manufacturing – all of which are essential for our national security," JPMorgan Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon said. Trump revived the trade war against Beijing on Friday, ending an uneasy truce between the two largest economies with promises to sharply hike tariffs in a reprisal against China curbing its rare earths exports. JPMorgan said its new "security and resiliency initiative" would facilitate financing and investment across four strategic sectors: supply chain and manufacturing; defense and aerospace; energy independence; and frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing. The firm said it had already planned to facilitate and finance about $1 trillion over the next decade in support of clients in these important industries, according to previously undisclosed internal figures, but it would be increasing the size by 50%. The U.S. government is pursuing deals across up to 30 industries, involving dozens of companies deemed critical to national or economic security, Reuters reported this month. JPMorgan, which helped put together the government's deal with U.S. rare earths mining company MP Materials, said in a recent company podcast that the bank was working with the Trump administration to explore more such opportunities. “We've had no less than 100 calls with clients to talk about the MP transaction as well as what this means for other industries,” said Andrew Castaldo, JPMorgan’s co-head of mid-cap mergers and acquisitions. “And we've had numerous trips down to Washington to explore those opportunities with the government.” Dimon also emphasized the need for policy reform to accelerate progress, citing regulatory delays and workforce challenges. “America needs more speed and investment,” he said. KEY INVESTMENT AREAS The four key investment areas identified by the firm have been divided into 27 sub-sectors ranging from shipbuilding and nuclear energy to nanomaterials and secure communications and will include middle-market companies as well as large corporate clients, it added. The bank said it would establish an external advisory council composed of public and private sector leaders, in addition to hiring more bankers and investment professionals. It will also expand thematic research on supply chain vulnerabilities and emerging technologies, leveraging its recently launched Center for Geopolitics. (Reporting by Nupur Anand in New York; Editing by Jamie Freed)

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(Reuters) -U.S. stock index futures rose on Monday following Friday's pullback, as investors returned to risk assets after President Donald Trump's softer tone eased concerns over renewed U.S.-China trade tensions. Trump on Friday said he would impose an additional 100% tariff on China's U.S.-bound exports, along with new export controls on critical U.S.-made software in retaliation for Beijing tightening rare earth restrictions. The revived trade tensions sent the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, both previously on track to register weekly gains, to suffer their steepest weekly declines in months. However, in a more conciliatory tone over the weekend, Trump posted that "it will all be fine" and the U.S. did not want to "hurt" China. China on Sunday blamed the U.S. for the escalation. However, Beijing did not roll out further countermeasures ahead of a potential meeting between Trump and his Chinese counterpart later this month, which the U.S. president threatened to cancel. "The path for markets in the near term depend heavily on the path escalation takes," analysts at UBS Global Wealth Management said in a note. "More generally, we think that the bull market remains intact and so pullbacks should offer an opportunity for investors, who are underallocated to equities, to consider adding long-term exposure." The AI-driven momentum and optimism around U.S. rate cuts have helped markets in the recent months. At 05:23 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 448 points, or 0.98%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 89.75 points, or 1.36%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 462 points, or 1.89%. Investor focus is also on the earnings season that kicks off this week with major U.S. banks including JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo set to release quarterly results on Tuesday. The season will be a crucial litmus test for U.S. stock markets and it will provide fresh clues on the economy at a time when major official data releases remain delayed due to a government shutdown that is currently in its 13th day. In premarket trading, shares of "Magnificent Seven" companies rose following Friday's pullback. Nvidia was up 3.7%, Tesla gained 2.8%, Microsoft advanced 1.5%, while Meta and Alphabet rose 1.6% each. In the Middle East, Hamas handed over the first group of the last surviving Israeli hostages, a key step in ending two years of devastating conflict in Gaza as part of a ceasefire deal pushed by Trump. (Reporting by Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

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