You already knew it was going to be a decent quarter for Goldman.
Dealmaking’s back and ECM activity picked up in 2025. Indeed, Q3 was the best quarter for IPOs since 2021. On Tuesday morning, JPMorgan said equity underwriting fees rose more than 50%, helping push total IB fees to the highest in nearly four years.
If anyone should benefit from the long-time-coming IB revival, it’s Goldman. Sure enough, the firm just had its best Q3 ever, according to results released on Tuesday. There’s some nuance. Let’s dive in. (I know, I know: “Who’s excited?!” Cut me some slack. I have to cover Wall Street results. It’s tradition in these pages.)
IB revenue of $2.657 billion indeed counted as a solid showing and a comfortable beat for Goldman. Consensus was $2.22 billion. The figure below gives you some context. The YoY gain was more than 40%.
Drilling down, that surge was attributable in large part to advisory, where higher M&A volumes drove a 60% YoY increase to $1.404 billion. Equity underwriting revenue rose a more pedestrian 21% to $465 million.
For the year, advisory fees are up 31% cumulatively at Goldman (i.e., rolling up Q1, Q2 and Q3 and measuring against the same period a year ago). Revenue in the firm’s equity underwriting business, by contrast, is up just 7% in 2025 measured on the same basis.
That’s not a “criticism,” per se. It’s just to emphasize that the IB renaissance — if that’s what we’re calling it — at Goldman is more about dealmaking than it is IPO facilitation. The firm might say, “So? What’s wrong with that?” They’d also point you to the 30% Q3 jump in debt underwriting fees, which reflected higher leveraged finance activity.
September, you’ll recall, was a banner month for debt sales. If you want to borrow to, say, buy a whole company, this is a good time to do it. Goldman will be happy to advise you on the purchase. And market the debt.
On the trading front, FICC was an easy beat. $3.47 billion blew past the $3.18 billion consensus and was up 17% YoY. Equities missed, though. $3.736 billion in revenue there was up a mere 7% YoY. Consensus wanted $3.94 billion.
It’s hard to know how to view the miss in equities trading. In the normal course of things, that’d be a disappointment, but recall that Goldman’s equities traders delivered two consecutive quarters of blockbuster revenue for the firm.
The figure above’s a reminder: Volatility like that seen in Q1 and early in Q2 (around Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day”) tends to be good for Wall Street trading desks. The chart also raises this question: Was Q3’s 13% drop from Q2 really a “disappointment,” or were expectations unrealistically high after two blowout quarters? (“What have you done for us lately?” “We brought in $3.7 billion in three months.” “Well, try harder.”)
Ultimately, Global Banking & Markets revenue (that’s the IB/trading rollup) was $10.115 billion for Q3 at Goldman. 2025’s on track to be the best year ever for the firm’s bread and butter businesses.
I’m continually amused at David Solomon’s penchant for failing upwards. I wouldn’t let David plan my vacation or make my grocery list (or DJ my backyard barbecue), let alone run my company. But somehow, he’s managed to right this ship after inexplicably steering it into the decidedly tricky waters of mass-market consumer banking a few years back.
Now that I think about it, there’s an argument to be made that any idiot could run Goldman. All you have to do is let the investment bankers investment bank and the traders trade, and stay out of the damn way. Solomon calls that “refocusing on strategic priorities.” Other people might call it “not fixing what isn’t, and wasn’t ever, broken.”
Anyway, total revenue at Goldman last quarter was $15.18 billion, a record for Q3 and the third-biggest haul ever. EPS of $12.25 was a dollar and a quarter ahead of estimates.
Finally, I’d note that operating expenses rose 14% YoY as comp and benefit costs increased. Fortunately, Solomon knows just what to do. “We are prioritizing the need to operate more efficiently… helped by new AI technologies,” he said.
