The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS): BCG Matrix [Dec-2025 Updated]

You're looking at where The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is placing its chips for the next cycle, and the picture is sharp: their core deal-making engine is roaring, with Investment Banking fees surging 42% and Equities hitting $4.3 billion in Q2 2025, clearly marking them as Stars. Meanwhile, the massive Asset & Wealth Management unit, sitting on $3.5 trillion in assets, keeps printing reliable cash as a true Cash Cow, but you've got to watch the small, explosively growing Platform Solutions segment-up 71%-which is a classic Question Mark demanding big investment, while the legacy consumer ventures are firmly in the Dog house. We've mapped out exactly which businesses are funding the future and which ones they're finally ditching, so dive in to see the full BCG Matrix breakdown below.

Background of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS)

You're looking at The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS), a major player in global finance since its founding way back in 1869, with its main office in New York, New York. Honestly, this firm has built its reputation by serving a wide array of clients-think corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

For the first nine months of 2025, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. posted total net revenues of $44.83 billion, leading to net earnings of $12.56 billion. That translated to a diluted earnings per common share (EPS) of $37.33 for the same period, with the annualized return on average common shareholders' equity sitting at 14.6% as of the third quarter of 2025. The book value per common share stood at $353.79 at the end of Q3 2025.

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. organizes its operations into three primary business segments, which is how we'll map out the BCG analysis. These are Global Banking & Markets, Asset & Wealth Management, and Platform Solutions. The firm is committed to returning capital; for instance, they declared a dividend of $4.00 per share and repurchased $20 billion worth of shares as of the third quarter of 2025.

Looking at the segment breakdown from the Q3 2025 results, Global Banking & Markets was the powerhouse, bringing in net revenues of $10.12 billion for that quarter. This segment covers the core investment banking, FICC (Fixed Income, Currency, and Commodities), and Equities franchises, providing advice, underwriting, and risk intermediation to institutional clients.

Next up is Asset & Wealth Management, which generated net revenues of $4.40 billion in Q3 2025. This area focuses on managing assets for both institutional and individual clients, covering everything from private banking and lending to alternative investments, and they surpassed a target of over $10 billion in annual Management and other fees back in 2024.

Finally, there's Platform Solutions, which is the segment housing the consumer-oriented activities and transaction banking services. For the third quarter of 2025, this segment reported net revenues of $670 million. While smaller in revenue terms, this unit is key to the firm's broader strategy, showing significant year-over-year revenue growth, primarily due to improvements in its consumer platforms and transaction banking operations.

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) - BCG Matrix: Stars

The Star quadrant represents the business units of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. that dominate a high-growth market, demanding significant investment to maintain their leading position. These areas are critical for future Cash Cow status, but for now, the cash generated is largely reinvested to fuel further expansion and market share defense.

The Global Banking & Markets (GBM) segment clearly embodies the Star characteristic for The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. in 2025, showing both market leadership and significant top-line growth. You see this clearly in the latest reported figures. Investment Banking fees surged an impressive 42% in Q3 2025, indicating a strong market for advisory and underwriting services that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is capturing effectively. This high growth in fees, which reached $2.66 billion in the third quarter, shows the market is expanding and the firm is leading the charge.

Overall, the GBM division posted net revenues of $10.12 billion in Q3 2025, marking an 18% year-over-year increase. This segment is a powerhouse, but it needs continuous capital deployment to stay ahead of competitors in a dynamic deal environment. To be fair, the investment banking fees backlog was essentially unchanged compared to the end of Q2 2025, suggesting a stabilization after the Q3 surge.

Another area exhibiting Star-like performance, though reported in the preceding quarter, is the Equities trading business. Equities trading revenue hit a record $4.3 billion in Q2 2025, reflecting market leadership and high client activity. This performance is indicative of a high-growth, high-share business, even if trading revenue is inherently more volatile than recurring advisory fees.

The firm's dominance in advisory services confirms its high market share. For the first three quarters of 2025, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. secured the top spot as the leading financial adviser in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) based on deal value, advising on transactions totaling $432.3 billion. This leadership position in high-value mandates is exactly what defines a Star in the BCG framework.

Here's a quick look at how the key revenue drivers within the high-growth areas performed across the recent quarters:

You should monitor these key indicators closely, as maintaining this investment pace is crucial for converting these Stars into reliable Cash Cows when market growth inevitably moderates. The focus remains on capturing the largest mandates, which requires significant resource allocation.

• The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. advised on 84 billion-dollar M&A deals worth approximately $419 billion in Q1-Q3 2025.
• Advisory fees within Investment Banking saw a 60% year-over-year increase in Q3 2025.
• The firm advised the sellside on 31 private equity exit deals for an aggregate value of $133.4 billion in H1 2025, an 82.3% year-over-year increase.
• For insurance underwriter M&A (Q1-Q3 2025), The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. advised on 5 deals totaling $6.43 billion in value, ranking first by deal value.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) - BCG Matrix: Cash Cows

The Asset & Wealth Management (AWM) division at The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. definitely functions as a core Cash Cow. This business unit is designed to provide durable, recurring fee-based revenue, which is exactly what you want from a mature, high-market-share operation. It consumes less capital for growth while reliably funding other parts of the firm.

You can see this stability in the latest figures. Total Assets Under Supervision (AUS) reached a record of approximately $3.45 trillion as of Q3 2025. That massive asset base supports the consistent fee generation. AWM net revenues were a solid $4.40 billion in Q3 2025, marking a strong 17% year-over-year increase, primarily driven by management fees.

Because this market is mature, the focus shifts from aggressive promotion to operational efficiency. Investments here are targeted at infrastructure to 'milk' those gains passively and improve the margin. The Alternatives platform, a key component, continues to attract significant capital, evidenced by gross fundraising hitting $33 billion in the quarter.

Here's a quick look at the key revenue drivers within AWM for the third quarter of 2025:

The durability of this segment is critical for the entire firm's financial health. It's the engine that helps cover administrative costs and supports shareholder returns. The segment's ability to generate high-margin, recurring revenue streams means it requires lower incremental investment to maintain its market position, which is the hallmark of a true Cash Cow.

The underlying components contributing to this cash flow include:

• Asset & Wealth Management provides durable, recurring fee-based revenue.
• Total Assets Under Supervision (AUS) reached a record of approximately $3.45 trillion as of Q3 2025.
• AWM net revenues were a solid $4.40 billion in Q3 2025, up 17% YoY, driven by management fees.
• Gross fundraising for the Alternatives platform hit $33 billion in Q3 2025.

If onboarding takes 14+ days, churn risk rises, but for AWM, the focus is on maintaining service quality to keep those assets under supervision locked in. Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) - BCG Matrix: Dogs

You're looking at the parts of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. that just haven't delivered the expected return, the units where market share and growth stalled out. These are the Dogs, and the firm has been actively pruning them to refocus capital.

The legacy consumer lending strategy, Marcus, has been largely scaled back and de-emphasized. This unit, which the firm once hoped would be a major growth engine, has shown significant financial strain. For example, the Marcus digital banking platform alone reported a $1.2 billion loss in 2023. This performance clearly signals a low-growth, high-cost position that doesn't fit the firm's core strategy.

Divestiture of the GreenSky lending platform was a clear exit from a capital-intensive, low-return area. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. sold GreenSky to a consortium led by Sixth Street. This sale followed an acquisition price of approximately $1.73 billion in 2021. The exit itself resulted in a reported negative impact of $0.19 per share on the firm's third-quarter 2023 earnings. This move was a decisive step away from that specific consumer finance vertical.

The firm is actively reducing exposure to mass-market credit, which is a key characteristic of shedding Dog assets. While the Apple Card partnership remains a component of the Platform Solutions segment, the firm has taken concrete steps elsewhere, such as transferring the General Motors credit card program to held for sale as of the third quarter of 2025. Furthermore, the firm recorded a provision for credit losses of $384 million in the second quarter of 2025, reflecting continued normalization in the consumer card portfolio, which ties back to the inherent risk in these lower-share businesses.

These non-core consumer ventures consumed capital without achieving sustainable scale or profit. The broader Platform Solutions segment, which housed these initiatives, lost more than $3 billion from the start of 2020 through the first nine months of 2022. This sustained negative cash flow is the textbook definition of a cash trap, justifying the firm's decision to divest and minimize these operations to improve overall efficiency, which stood at 62.1% for the first nine months of 2025.

Finance: draft the Q4 2025 expense forecast for the remaining Platform Solutions assets by next Tuesday.

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) - BCG Matrix: Question Marks

You're looking at the parts of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. that are burning cash now but hold the promise of becoming future Stars. These are the Question Marks in the portfolio-high growth, low current market share. They demand significant capital to scale up their presence in nascent or rapidly expanding markets. Honestly, these units are a bet on future dominance, and if the bet doesn't pay off quickly, they risk sliding into the Dog quadrant.

The primary focus here is the Platform Solutions segment. This area is characterized by explosive top-line growth, which is exactly what you look for in a high-growth market, but its contribution to the firm's overall revenue base remains small, signaling low relative market share today. The strategy here is clear: invest heavily to capture share before the market matures. The firm is definitely making moves to centralize operations around AI, which is meant to enhance delivery in these newer areas, but the consumer-facing parts still show signs of credit normalization drag.

Here are the hard numbers that frame the current Question Mark status for Q3 2025:

• Platform Solutions revenue grew an explosive 71% YoY to $670 million in Q3 2025.
• The segment is small, representing only about 4.4% of the firm's Q3 2025 net revenue of $15.18 billion.
• Transaction Banking and new consumer platforms require heavy investment for future scale and market share.
• High growth potential exists, but long-term profitability and relative market position are still unproven.

To give you a clearer picture of where the investment is being channeled within this segment, look at the breakdown:

• Consumer platforms accounted for $599 million of the Platform Solutions revenue.
• This consumer platform revenue represents approximately 89.4% of the total Platform Solutions take for the quarter.
• The firm reported a Provision for Credit Losses of $339 million in Q3 2025, primarily tied to the credit card portfolio within this segment.

The investment thesis hinges on whether these high-growth initiatives can translate that growth into market leadership. The firm's total Assets Under Supervision (AUS) reached a record $3.5 trillion in Q3 2025, showing the overall franchise strength, but the Platform Solutions slice is still small and cash-intensive.

The path forward for these Question Marks is binary: either the heavy capital deployment works, pushing them toward Star status, or the market share gains stall, making divestiture or repositioning the only logical next step. Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.