Goldman Sachs Drops Board Diversity Rule, Citing Legal Shifts

Goldman Sachs officially ended its policy that required companies to have at least two “diverse” board members before the firm would underwrite their IPOs. The Washington Post reported on the change.

The decision follows a December 2024 court ruling that overturned Goldman and Nasdaq’s board diversity rule.

Here’s what you need to know about the state of Goldman Sachs’s DEI policy.

Goldman Sachs spokesperson Tony Fratto emphasized that the firm will continue to encourage diversity:

“As a result of legal developments related to board diversity requirements, we ended our formal board diversity policy,” Goldman Sachs spokesman Tony Fratto said in an emailed statement. “We continue to believe that successful boards benefit from diverse backgrounds and perspectives, and we will encourage them to take this approach.”

But this is the second DEI-related cut Goldman has made this year.

Since 2019, Goldman Sachs’s program “Launch With GS” funded companies led by women and people of color. In January of 2025, Goldman shut down Launch With GS after claiming it met its $1 billion investment goal.

Summary

Goldman is reducing its DEI programs mostly due to legal challenges. The core of its DEI policies remain active.

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