Goldman’s Strategy: Beyond Investment Banking Fees
Goldman Sachs is seeking to maximize its revenue streams by capitalizing on major Initial Public Offerings (IPOs). The firm aims not only to earn substantial investment banking fees from these high-profile deals but also to acquire and manage the subsequent billions of dollars in new wealth generated by the IPO process. This strategy is not unique, and the upcoming listing of Anthropic is positioned as Goldman’s latest major opportunity to execute this plan.
Anthropic, the creator of the Claude AI model, is slated to debut on the stock market on Thursday. Both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are co-leading the offering, responsible for coordinating the other 20 underwriters, helping determine the offering price, and marketing shares to investors. While the expected fee revenue is substantial, the greater strategic value lies in using the prestige of securing a second massive listing, following SpaceX, to secure future deals and feed other critical areas of the business.
Market Context and Financial Estimates
The successful execution of the Anthropic IPO—which is widely anticipated—is viewed by some experts as a stabilizing factor for the volatile AI sector. This comes amid selling pressure on data center-related stocks, compounded by political opposition following the Democratic wave in the recent midterm elections. Furthermore, investor confidence was recently challenged by Jensen Huang’s resignation as Nvidia CEO.
While the AI boom has created significant opportunities for banks like Goldman Sachs—benefiting both trading desks and capital markets activity—analysts note that the direct fees from the Anthropic offering are unlikely to drastically alter Goldman’s earnings. According to Evercore ISI analyst Glenn Schorr, the IPO could generate approximately $395 million in total underwriting fees. Schorr used the June SpaceX offering as a comparative benchmark. Under his base-case model, the two lead banks could each collect roughly $79 million, assuming a 20% share of the fee pool.
However, Schorr pointed out that the potential benefit for investment banks like Goldman extends “well north of just the IPO fee.” The Anthropic deal, which could raise $64.35 billion according to the latest filing, would provide significant funds for the company’s founders, executives, and employees, thereby offering Goldman the chance to convert them into long-term wealth management clientele.
Shifting Focus to Wealth Management
Goldman Sachs is strategically pivoting toward generating more predictable, recurring income from wealth management, rather than relying heavily on the cyclical nature of dealmaking and trading. Since investors tend to pay higher multiples for steady, recurring revenue streams, the growth of the wealth division is crucial for the bank’s future stock performance.
A Goldman spokesperson told CNBC that the bank sees “a significant opportunity as founders and executives navigate major liquidity events,” adding, “When executives partner with us on an IPO, financing, or M & A transaction, wealth planning is a natural extension of that advisory relationship.”
Both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are vying to capture this new wealth. Devin Ryan, head of financial services research at Citizens, noted that IPOs create chances for firms “to compete for new assets that could kind of flow into their wealth channel,” generating a “multiplier in the wealth business, and then beyond the wealth business.”
Competitive Advantages of Major Banks
The two competing institutions have demonstrated different strengths in capturing post-IPO wealth. Morgan Stanley, for instance, recorded a record $232 billion in net new assets (NAA) during the third quarter, with IPO-related flows accounting for more than half of that total.
Morgan Stanley’s approach has been highlighted by its management of the SpaceX directed share program. CFO Sharon Yeshaya noted that IPOs are not “just a one-quarter event.” This role allowed Morgan Stanley to establish direct relationships with employees whose eventual holdings could be managed through the firm’s wealth services. The bank built these capabilities by acquiring the stock plan management platform Solium (now Shareworks) in 2019 and the brokerage platform E-Trade in 2020. A spokesperson for Morgan Stanley told CNBC that these existing relationships provide a direct connection to employees as their shares become liquid, eliminating the need to compete for their business after the initial offering.
Conversely, Goldman Sachs maintains a focus on ultra-high-net-worth clients, defining this group as those with at least $10 million in investable assets. The bank’s method relies on utilizing its investment banking relationships to engage founders and executives before major liquidity events. During its second-quarter earnings call in July, the bank stated it generated nearly 900 referrals to its wealth management unit from its investment banking business since the beginning of 2025. Its wealth management client assets reached approximately $2 trillion.
Despite the competitive environment, some caution that the wealth created by the IPO may be dispersed among employees with smaller fortunes, rather than exclusively among ultra-high-net-worth individuals. However, experts suggest that the most significant opportunity may be the market confidence boost following a successful Anthropic debut, which could encourage other private companies to pursue listings and provide banks with additional prospects for attracting newly wealthy clients.
