#Goldman populist pay flap led in part by son of $108B fund bigwig

The populist uprising at Goldman Sachs over junior banker pay was led by a first-year employee with a rather princely background.

The son of TPG Capital Vice Chairman Jonathan Coslet was one of the ringleaders behind a PowerPoint presentation that went viral earlier this year, according to Bloomberg. Joey Coslet, then a first-year Goldman analyst, played a “key role” in putting together the list of gripes, the report said.

The slides, which were unauthorized by Goldman leaders, but were on Goldman letterhead, complained of “inhumane” treatment and 95-hour workweeks endured by newly hired analysts, who at the time were pulling down $85,000 in base compensation.

The leaked slides highlighted a survey of 13 first-year analysts who moaned about shifts as long as 20 hours that they said left them little time to eat, sleep or shower. They said the grind damaged their physical and mental health.

The reverberations from the slideshow were felt across the financial industry. Goldman Chief David Solomon increased first-year pay by roughly 30 percent — to $115,000. Other big firms, like JP Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, said they’d boost first-year pay to $100,000, while boutique investment bank Evercore put first-year salaries all the way up to $120,000.

Joey Coslet is a perhaps curious messenger for a We the People message: TPG, the $108 billion private equity fund where his father is vice chairman, is known for hard-driving leveraged buyouts. It is a Goldman Sachs client, Bloomberg reported. The elder Coslet began his career at Michael Milken’s Drexel Burnham Lambert.

Coslet’s time at Drexel overlapped with Goldman CEO Solomon’s tenure at the firm, although it’s unclear if the men knew each other or worked together. Coslet joined TPG when it was founded in 1993.

The younger Coslet, 23, studied at University of Pennsylvania’s prestigious Wharton School and interned at Goldman and TPG before taking the coveted role of an investment banker working on tech deals, where he still works, according to the report. Neither father nor son commented to Bloomberg.

The father-son duo, who share similar pedigrees, appear close — at least online.

“So excited you will be working just a block away from my office,” the father wrote on Facebook after his son’s college graduation, according to the report. “Lots of lunches, if they let you out of work.” Coslet ended the post with a smiley face.

In a statement to The Post, a Goldman Sachs spokesperson said: “Communication is a core part of our culture, and we welcome feedback from all of our employees irrespective of title. We have seen a period of heightened client activity and have taken multiple steps to ensure that our people receive the support they need during this time.”

Meanwhile, over the past few months, firms across Wall Street have followed suit and hiked pay. A boom in deal-making, capital-raising and IPOs have all helped to lift investment banking revenues, while the trillions of dollars the Federal Reserve has been pumping into markets has lifted many stocks to new highs.

And after complaints from the slideshow spilled onto social media, banks including Goldman and JPMorgan vowed to hire more staff to help with the workload. Private equity firm Apollo Global Management has reportedly offered some associates as much as $200,000 to stick around.

Elsewhere, Citibank CEO Jane Fraser told employees she was banning Zoom meetings on Fridays to address Zoom fatigue. Investment bank Jefferies even offered its junior staff the primo Peloton bike as a “thank you” for working long hours.