David Solomon's private plane use gets flagged at Goldman Sachs' annual shareholder meeting

• One shareholder cites reports about Goldman Sachs CEO's use of the corporate jet.

• The shareholder, an advocacy group, was seeking support for a motion to split the roles of CEO and chairman at Goldman.

• The proposal failed to win enough support. 

A shareholder of Goldman Sachs cited Goldman CEO David Solomon's personal use of the corporate aircraft at the company's annual meeting Wednesday morning in Dallas.

Paul Chesser, the director of the National Legal and Policy Center's Corporate Integrity Project, spoke in support of a shareholder proposal from his advocacy group asking investors to require Goldman Sachs to have an independent chairman of the board of directors. Solomon is both CEO and chairman of the company. 

Chesser put the proposal in terms of Goldman Sachs organizational processes that, he said, "look pretty weak." In his list of examples to support his claim, he cited the reporting from Insider and others about how Solomon uses the corporate plane. 

"There have been numerous reports about the use of company jets for the Chairman/CEO's personal travel, some of which allegedly transported him to his side hustle gigs as a music DJ and as add-ons for business trips," Chesser said in prepared remarks. "Now I know 'allegedly' and 'reportedly' don't necessarily make things true, but where there's smoke there's usually fire."

On Monday, Insider reported that Goldman's two planes had traveled to the Bahamas at least 21 times going back to the beginning of 2022. Solomon has a home in the island nation, and often, though not always, flies there for personal reasons. The planes have also traveled to other Caribbean locales, and Solomon has combined work flights with personal flights, such as last year when he played an electronic music set at Lollapalooza in Chicago. 

Solomon acknowledged Chesser's remarks, and moved to take questions before advancing to the next shareholder proposal and presentation. He didn't address the plane comments directly.

Goldman says in its proxy statement that the CEO reimburses the company for the personal use of the planes, but it hasn't disclosed the amount of those reimbursements or the costs to the company of Solomon's flights. 

Insider reported last month that Goldman Sachs was looking to upgrade one of its two jets, before deciding late last year to cancel the order. The company considered a state-of-the-art Gulfstream G700 version when it purchased its two other jets in 2019, but was told it wouldn't be ready in time for a 2020 delivery.

At the annual meeting, Chesser's remarks placed the CEO's personal use of the corporate jet in context of the decision to fire 3,200 employees earlier this year. 

"Even though the company claims it is reimbursed for personal use of planes, how does this look when you eventually have to lay off thousands of employees, as it did earlier this year?" Chesser said. 

Founded in 1991, the NLPC says on its website that it "promotes ethics in public life through research, investigation, education, and legal action." The NLPC said that it was the beneficial owner of at least $2,000 worth of the company's shares. 

The NLPC isn't the only shareholder to ask some hard questions about Solomon's plane use. As Insider has previously reported, at least one other shareholder has asked Goldman's investor relations department for information about Solomon's personal use.

It has also drawn rebuke from some partners who feel the CEO should be more focused on his job as Goldman's CEO, and are upset enough that they have considered bringing their concerns directly to the board. 

In the end, shareholders didn't heed NLPC's words. Only some 16% of shareholders cast votes in favor of the nonprofit's proposal, not enough to ratify it, according to a preliminary tally offered by Goldman's chief legal officer, Kathryn Ruemmler, during the meeting.