Goldman’s Eric Lane Leaves for Tiger Global in Surprise Exit
Eric Lane is leaving less than six months after taking over the firm’s newly expanded asset-management business.
(Bloomberg) -- Eric Lane, the co-head of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s asset-management business, is quitting the firm to join Chase Coleman’s Tiger Global Management, just a day after news that a pair of senior consumer bankers are leaving the lender for a fintech startup.
Lane is departing less than six months after taking over Goldman’s newly expanded asset-management business along with Julian Salisbury, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg. The 25-year veteran of Goldman Sachs and a member of its most important decision-making body will join investment firm Tiger Global later this year as president and chief operating officer, according to a letter to investors Monday.
“In this newly created role, Eric will work across the firm, helping us manage the organization with a particular focus on our clients and the infrastructure that supports our platform,” the firm said in the letter, seen by Bloomberg. Lane will report directly to Coleman and venture capital head Scott Shleifer.
A representative for New York-based Tiger Global declined to comment. The firm manages about $50 billion, with roughly half in its hedge fund business and the rest in its venture capital unit. Tiger Global’s current COO and chief financial officer, Anil Crasto, told the firm late last year that he would retire in 2021, according to the letter.
Goldman’s asset-management division, with $8 billion of annual revenue, is a critical focus for Chief Executive Officer David Solomon, who hopes to rake in more client assets to generate a steady stream of fee income for the bank. That and the consumer business are two new strategic projects that the bank has hoped will grow fast enough for it to reduce reliance on the firm’s traditional strengths in investment banking and trading.
Lane’s surprise move comes just a day after people with knowledge of the matter said that Omer Ismail, the head of Goldman’s consumer bank, is leaving to run Walmart Inc.’s fledgling financial-technology startup. Ismail will bring along David Stark, who helped ink Goldman’s partnership with Apple Inc. and oversaw its tie-ups with JetBlue Airways Corp. and Amazon.com Inc.
Just over a year ago, Goldman’s asset-management business lost two other key executives. Sumit Rajpal and Andrew Wolff, two of the three co-heads of merchant banking at Goldman, with Salisbury, left just as the firm was revving up its fundraising efforts.
Goldman in September shuffled business lines and announced a raft of management changes, including that Lane and Salisbury would lead the combined asset-management and merchant bank. Lane previously ran the investment-management group, which also included Goldman’s consumer and wealth operations.
Biggest Hire
Lane is the biggest hire Tiger Global has made in recent years -- and likely the most expensive. His addition comes as the firm searches “for ways to make our investment flywheel spin faster,” the firm wrote in an investor letter from Friday.
Lane will be responsible for managing the build-out of the firm’s infrastructure, including business processes, work flows, and collaboration, according to a person familiar with the matter. Over time, he’ll be involved with shaping Tiger Global’s firmwide strategy and will lighten Coleman and Shleifer’s workload by taking on some communications with investors, the person said.
“He has overseen many functions that are essential to scale and support a complex global investment-management platform,” Tiger Global said in Monday’s letter.
Tiger Global assets have soared over the 20 years since the firm was started, and its performance has been strong. The hedge fund returned 48% last year alone. Coleman topped Bloomberg’s list of the top-earning hedge fund managers in 2020.
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