Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said co- President and co-Chief Operating Officer Jon Winkelried, who led cost-cutting that eliminated more than 10 percent of the company’s jobs in the past year, is retiring March 31.

Winkelried, 49, joined the company in 1982 and has been a director since June 2006. Co-President and co-Chief Operating Officer Gary Cohn, 48, will assume both jobs, spokesman Lucas Van Praag said. Winkelried won’t accept severance, and plans to spend time with his family and on his Colorado ranch, Van Praag said.

“This is a very tough business, especially for someone at his level,” said Len Blum, a managing partner at Westwood Capital LLC, a closely held New York investment bank. “This is not a fun time. Even for Goldman, this is a time that is very stressful.”

Goldman Sachs has eliminated about 4,700 positions in the past year, a drive led by Winkelried, as securities firms and banks wrestle with the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. New York-based Goldman Sachs converted to a bank holding company from a securities firm last year and took $10 billion from the government to help avert a loss of investor confidence in the firm.

Chief Financial Officer David Viniar said this month that the company wants to pay back money received from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The firm wants to resolve its U.S. debt as a signal it’s healthy and to escape limitations linked to accepting the aid, he said.

Winkelried will become a senior director, an honorary title, Van Praag said.

Estate, Bonus

Last year, Winkelried listed his Nantucket, Massachusetts, estate for sale at $55 million. He reduced the price to $38.5 million, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site.

Winkelried made $67.5 million at the end of 2007 and $53 million at the end of 2006. Seven Goldman Sachs executives, including Winkelried and Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein, declined to take bonuses for 2008.

Winkelried didn’t respond to a message left at his office. Van Praag said Winkelried planned to leave last year, but decided to stay as the markets tumbled.

Winkelried started at Goldman Sachs as an investment banker, became a partner in 1990 and was promoted to run leveraged finance in 1995. In 2000, Winkelried, then head of fixed income, currency and commodities in Europe, was named co-head with Blankfein of the division worldwide.

A native of Millburn, New Jersey, Winkelried has been on the firm’s management committee since 1999. He joined Goldman Sachs the same year as Blankfein, after getting a master’s degree from the University of Chicago’s business school.

College Physics

In his first year of college, Winkelried got a “C” in an introductory physics class, a setback that changed his approach to studying, he said in a profile on the University of Chicago’s Web site. He brought his books to the library and pledged not to leave until he caught up on his coursework. “That day changed my entire life,” he said.

Goldman Sachs in December reported a fourth-quarter loss of $2.12 billion, its first since going public in 1999, as the most profitable of Wall Street’s biggest firms succumbed to the credit crisis.

Goldman Sachs tumbled $10.74, or 11 percent, to $85.71 in New York Stock Exchange trading yesterday, and has dropped 52 percent in the past year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Josh Fineman in New York at jfineman@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 18, 2009 00:00 EST