TSLA Tesla Inc

Gary Cohn's visit to Trump Tower on Tuesday has rekindled questions about whether the longtime Goldman Sachs Group Inc. No. 2 has tired of life as an understudy.

Mr. Cohn, who has been Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein's top deputy for a decade, met with Donald Trump Tuesday. It isn't clear whether the president-elect is considering Mr. Cohn for a position; Politico reported Wednesday that Mr. Cohn could be a contender to head the Office of Management and Budget.

A possible position in the Trump administration comes at a time when Mr. Cohn's role at Goldman has already been in question. The 56-year-old president and chief operating officer has had conversations in recent months about leaving the bank, according to people familiar with the matter.

His departure would scrap Goldman's most-obvious succession plan, yet elevate a new crop of executives eyeing Mr. Blankfein's job. It would also signal that Mr. Blankfein, who weathered the financial crisis, survived a bout with cancer and has settled into a role as a senior industry statesman, isn't going anywhere.

That has become more accepted within Goldman's executive ranks in recent months. Michael Sherwood, who ran Goldman's international business from London and had once been seen as a potential successor, said as much last week when he announced his retirement.

"Some people want [the CEO job] passionately; I just didn't," Mr. Sherwood said in an interview. "One of those people, by the way, is named Lloyd and he's not going anywhere. He doesn't say 'one more year;' he says 'five more years."

That has left little room for Mr. Cohn and created what some executives describe as a talent bottleneck. Mr. Blankfein has been CEO since 2006, and his inner circle of confidants has seen little turnover, leaving few opportunities for promotion lower down the ranks.

Some executives describe growing frustration with the stasis, even while acknowledging that steady leadership likely helped Goldman weather the crisis and rally support for strategic changes.

As second-in-command, Mr. Cohn oversees Goldman's daily operations. He joined Goldman in 1990 and became a partner in 1994—a class that also included Mr. Trump's nominee for Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin.

Mr. Cohn's background reflects the sort of Midwestern voters who helped power Mr. Trump to a surprise victory. Born in Ohio the son of an electrician, Mr. Cohn's first job was selling window frames and aluminum siding in Cleveland, and he later sold silver on Wall Street.

In recent years, he has taken on a more public-facing role and struck clients and colleagues as more polished. He has cultivated relationships in Silicon Valley, where Mr. Blankfein is less at ease, and is close to executives such as Uber Technologies Inc.'s Travis Kalanick and Tesla Motors Inc.'s Elon Musk.

Messrs Blankfein and Cohn rose together through Goldman's trading division, and Mr. Cohn was once seen as the likely successor to his longtime friend and boss. But as Mr. Blankfein remained in the job longer than many expected, odds lengthened for Mr. Cohn and began to favor the crown effectively skipping a generation.

Should Mr. Cohn opt to seek opportunities outside the firm, his role as chief operating officer and president would likely be split between among two executives, people familiar with the matter have said. Goldman has a history of co-executives, and Mr. Cohn split the No. 2 job for several years with Jon Winkelried, who left the firm in 2009.

Elevating two executives would widen Mr. Blankfein's circle of lieutenants and deepen the bench of seasoned executives who could replace him down the line.

It also would avoid anointing a clear successor, keeping the palace intrigue alive. Speculation on Goldman's next chief is a favorite Wall Street parlor game.

The likeliest candidates to replace Mr. Cohn, according to people familiar with the matter, are Chief Financial Officer Harvey Schwartz and investment-banking co-chief David Solomon. Outside candidates include R. Martin Chavez, Goldman's chief technologist, and Stephen Scherr, the strategist who was recently put in charge of Goldman's push into consumer banking.

Who is tapped will say much about how dramatically the regulatory changes pushed through since the crisis have reshaped Goldman's priorities and power centers.

Mr. Schwartz, like Messrs. Blankfein and Cohn, came up through the firm's securities arm. Elevating him would show Goldman sticking to its trading guns even as that business, which once minted billions, has been cuffed by regulation.

Mr. Solomon is an investment banker who has forged relationships with many of the world's biggest companies. He spent his early Wall Street days in junk bonds and in his current role has pushed Goldman to get bigger in debt underwriting. A rare lateral partner, he joined Goldman from Bear Stearns in 1999.

The elevation of Mr. Chavez, which insiders say is less likely but possible, would show that Goldman increasingly sees itself a technology firm powered by coders rather than superstar bankers and traders. Mr. Chavez oversees some 9,000 engineers, about one-quarter of Goldman's head count.

But Mr. Chavez's group doesn't officially produce any revenue, and overseeing a moneymaking business has been an unofficial prerequisite for running the firm.

Messrs. Blankfein and Cohn have been close friends for years. Both come from unprivileged backgrounds and began their ascent at Goldman's lowliest division, trading metals in J. Aron's dingy offices, removed from Goldman's posh banking suites.

But it has been a long, and so far fruitless, wait for Mr. Cohn to get the top job. In 2012, the board discussed making Mr. Cohn CEO and keeping Mr. Blankfein as chairman, but decided against it, The Wall Street Journal reported. Soon after, Mr. Blankfein began setting up dinners between board members and younger executives, which many took as a sign that while Mr. Cohn remained the front-runner, he had competition.

In 2014, Mr. Blankfein said of his CEO chair: "A job like this is hard to come by. I'll be slow to get out of it."

Write to Liz Hoffman at liz.hoffman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 30, 2016 13:45 ET (18:45 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.