Rishi Sunak returns to Wall Street, joins Goldman Sachs as senior adviser: Report

Rishi Sunak, the former UK Prime Minister, is returning to his professional roots - Wall Street. According to the Financial Times, Sunak has been appointed as a senior adviser at Goldman Sachs, marking his first major career move since stepping down as Conservative Party leader after the July 2024 general election.The appointment is a homecoming for Sunak, who began his career at Goldman Sachs as a summer intern and junior analyst between 2001 and 2004. Now, two decades later, he rejoins the investment bank in a high-profile role, offering strategic advice on geopolitical and economic issues.“I am excited to welcome Rishi back to Goldman Sachs in his new capacity as a senior adviser,” Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon told the Financial Times. “He will work with Goldman executives to advise clients on geopolitical and economic issues. He will also spend time with our people around the world, contributing to our culture of ongoing learning and development.”Political exit, quiet reflectionSince the Conservative Party’s historic defeat in the 2024 UK general election, where it lost more than two-thirds of its seats, Sunak has largely remained out of the public eye. The party fell from 365 seats in 2019 to just 121, its worst performance in a century. Sunak resigned as Prime Minister and party leader shortly after the election.His tenure as Prime Minister, from October 2022 to July 2024, was marked by economic uncertainty, public sector strikes, and rising global instability. His decision to call a snap election in July 2024 backfired, paving the way for a Labour landslide and abruptly ending his time in office.Though he remains the Member of Parliament for Richmond and Northallerton, Sunak has moved to the backbenches and signaled a quieter political role for the rest of this term.Academic and philanthropic focusBefore taking up his new role at Goldman Sachs, Sunak had already begun charting a post-political path. Earlier this year, he accepted academic fellowships at both Oxford and Stanford Universities. Meanwhile, he and his wife, Akshata Murty, continue their philanthropic work through the Richmond Project, a UK charity focused on improving numeracy skills.According to the Financial Times, Sunak plans to donate all earnings from his Goldman Sachs role to this initiative.Wealth, legacy, and a full-circle momentThe Sunday Times Rich List estimates Sunak and Murty’s net worth at £640 million, most of it tied to Murty’s share in Infosys, the Indian IT firm co-founded by her father, Narayana Murthy.Sunak's return to Goldman Sachs is symbolic as much as it is strategic, closing the loop on a career that began in finance before pivoting to hedge funds and eventually leading to Parliament in 2015. After leaving Goldman in 2004, he worked for Chris Hohn’s TCI hedge fund and then at Theleme Partners, a spin-off he helped launch.