Upgrade to SI Premium - Free Trial

Form 424B2 GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC

December 28, 2020 7:00 AM

Filed Pursuant to Rule 424(b)(2)

Registration Statement No. 333-239610

The information in this preliminary pricing supplement is not complete and may be changed. This preliminary pricing supplement is not an offer to sell nor does it seek an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

 

 

 

Subject to Completion. Dated December 23, 2020.

GS Finance Corp.

$

Leveraged Buffered Invesco QQQ TrustSM, Series 1-Linked Notes due      

guaranteed by

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

The notes do not bear interest. The amount that you will be paid on your notes on the stated maturity date (expected to be July 31, 2023) is based on the performance of the Invesco QQQ TrustSM, Series 1 (ETF) as measured from the trade date (expected to be January 26, 2021) to and including the determination date (expected to be July 26, 2023).

The return on your notes is linked to the performance of the ETF, and not to that of the Nasdaq-100 Index® (index) on which the ETF is based. The performance of the ETF may significantly diverge from that of its index.

If the final ETF level on the determination date is greater than the initial ETF level (set on the trade date), the return on your notes will be positive and will equal the participation rate of 2 times the ETF return, subject to the maximum settlement amount of at least $1,180 (set on the trade date) for each $1,000 face amount of your notes.

If the final ETF level declines by up to 10% from the initial ETF level, you will receive the face amount of your notes. If the final ETF level declines by more than 10% from the initial ETF level, the return on your notes will be negative and will equal the ETF return plus 10%. You could lose a significant portion of the face amount of your notes.

To determine your payment at maturity, we will calculate the ETF return, which is the percentage increase or decrease in the final ETF level from the initial ETF level. At maturity, for each $1,000 face amount of your notes, you will receive an amount in cash equal to:

if the ETF return is positive (the final ETF level is greater than the initial ETF level), the sum of (i) $1,000 plus (ii) the product of (a) $1,000 times (b) the participation rate times (c) the ETF return, subject to the maximum settlement amount;

if the ETF return is zero or negative but not below -10% (the final ETF level is equal to the initial ETF  level or is less than the initial ETF level, but not by more than 10%), $1,000; or

if the ETF return is negative and is below -10% (the final ETF level is less than the initial ETF level by more than 10%), the sum of (i) $1,000 plus (ii) the product of (a) the sum of the ETF return plus 10% times (b) $1,000. You will receive less than the face amount of your notes.

You should read the disclosure herein to better understand the terms and risks of your investment, including the credit risk of GS Finance Corp. and The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. See page PS-10.

The estimated value of your notes at the time the terms of your notes are set on the trade date is expected to be between $900 and $930 per $1,000 face amount. For a discussion of the estimated value and the price at which Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC would initially buy or sell your notes, if it makes a market in the notes, see the following page.

Original issue date:

expected to be Janaury 29, 2021

Original issue price:

100% of the face amount*

Underwriting discount:

    % of the face amount*

Net proceeds to the issuer:

    % of the face amount

*The original issue price will be   % for certain investors; see “Supplemental Plan of Distribution; Conflicts of Interest” on page PS-31.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any other regulatory body has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense. The notes are not bank deposits and are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency, nor are they obligations of, or guaranteed by, a bank.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC

Pricing Supplement No.      dated         , 2021.

 

 

 


 

 

The issue price, underwriting discount and net proceeds listed above relate to the notes we sell initially. We may decide to sell additional notes after the date of this pricing supplement, at issue prices and with underwriting discounts and net proceeds that differ from the amounts set forth above. The return (whether positive or negative) on your investment in notes will depend in part on the issue price you pay for such notes.

GS Finance Corp. may use this prospectus in the initial sale of the notes. In addition, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC or any other affiliate of GS Finance Corp. may use this prospectus in a market-making transaction in a note after its initial sale. Unless GS Finance Corp. or its agent informs the purchaser otherwise in the confirmation of sale, this prospectus is being used in a market-making transaction.

 

Estimated Value of Your Notes

The estimated value of your notes at the time the terms of your notes are set on the trade date (as determined by reference to pricing models used by Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC (GS&Co.) and taking into account our credit spreads) is expected to be between $900 and $930 per $1,000 face amount, which is less than the original issue price. The value of your notes at any time will reflect many factors and cannot be predicted; however, the price (not including GS&Co.s customary bid and ask spreads) at which GS&Co. would initially buy or sell notes (if it makes a market, which it is not obligated to do) and the value that GS&Co. will initially use for account statements and otherwise is equal to approximately the estimated value of your notes at the time of pricing, plus an additional amount (initially equal to $     per $1,000 face amount).

Prior to        , the price (not including GS&Co.’s customary bid and ask spreads) at which GS&Co. would buy or sell your notes (if it makes a market, which it is not obligated to do) will equal approximately the sum of (a) the then-current estimated value of your notes (as determined by reference to GS&Co.’s pricing models) plus (b) any remaining additional amount (the additional amount will decline to zero on a straight-line basis from the time of pricing through         ). On and after        , the price (not including GS&Co.’s customary bid and ask spreads) at which GS&Co. would buy or sell your notes (if it makes a market) will equal approximately the then-current estimated value of your notes determined by reference to such pricing models.

 

 

About Your Prospectus

The notes are part of the Medium-Term Notes, Series F program of GS Finance Corp. and are fully and unconditionally guaranteed by The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. This prospectus includes this pricing supplement and the accompanying documents listed below. This pricing supplement constitutes a supplement to the documents listed below, does not set forth all of the terms of your notes and therefore should be read in conjunction with such documents:

General terms supplement no. 8,671 dated July 1, 2020

Prospectus supplement dated July 1, 2020

Prospectus dated July 1, 2020

The information in this pricing supplement supersedes any conflicting information in the documents listed above. In addition, some of the terms or features described in the listed documents may not apply to your notes.

We refer to the notes we are offering by this pricing supplement as the “offered notes” or the “notes”. Each of the offered notes has the terms described below. Please note that in this pricing supplement, references to “GS Finance Corp.”, “we”, “our” and “us” mean only GS Finance Corp. and do not include its subsidiaries or affiliates, references to “The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.”, our parent company, mean only The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. and do not include its subsidiaries or affiliates and references to “Goldman Sachs” mean The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. together with its consolidated subsidiaries and affiliates, including us. The notes will be issued under the senior debt indenture, dated as of October 10, 2008, as supplemented by the First Supplemental Indenture, dated as of February 20, 2015, each among us, as issuer, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., as guarantor, and The Bank of New York Mellon, as trustee. This indenture, as so supplemented and as further supplemented thereafter, is referred to as the “GSFC 2008 indenture” in the accompanying prospectus supplement. The notes will be issued in book-entry form and represented by a master global note.

 

PS-2


 

 

 

 

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

(Terms From Pricing Supplement No.     Incorporated Into Master Note No. 2)

 

These terms and conditions relate to pricing supplement no.     dated         , 2021 of GS Finance Corp. and The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. with respect to the issuance by GS Finance Corp. of its Leveraged Buffered Invesco QQQ TrustSM, Series 1-Linked Notes due       and the guarantee thereof by The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

The provisions below are hereby incorporated into master note no. 2, dated July 1, 2020. References herein to “this note” shall be deemed to refer to “this security” in such master note no. 2, dated July 1, 2020. Certain defined terms may not be capitalized in these terms and conditions even if they are capitalized in master note no. 2, dated July 1, 2020. Defined terms that are not defined in these terms and conditions shall have the meanings indicated in such master note no. 2, dated July 1, 2020, unless the context otherwise requires.

CUSIP / ISIN: 40057EXB8 / US40057EXB81

Company (Issuer): GS Finance Corp.

Guarantor: The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

Underlier: the Invesco QQQ TrustSM, Series 1 (current Bloomberg symbol: “QQQ UW Equity”), or any successor underlier, as it may be modified, replaced or adjusted from time to time as provided herein

Underlying index: with respect to the Invesco QQQ TrustSM, Series 1, the Nasdaq-100® Index

Face amount: $            in the aggregate on the original issue date; the aggregate face amount may be increased if the company, at its sole option, decides to sell an additional amount on a date subsequent to the trade date.

Authorized denominations: $1,000 or any integral multiple of $1,000 in excess thereof

Principal amount: On the stated maturity date, the company will pay, for each $1,000 of the outstanding face amount, an amount, if any, in cash equal to the cash settlement amount.

Cash settlement amount:

if the final underlier level is greater than or equal to the cap level, the maximum settlement amount;

if the final underlier level is greater than the initial underlier level but less than the cap level, the sum of (i) $1,000 plus (ii) the product of (a) $1,000 times (b) the upside participation rate times (c) the underlier return;

if the final underlier level is equal to or less than the initial underlier level but greater than or equal to the buffer level, $1,000; or

if the final underlier level is less than the buffer level, the sum of (i) $1,000 plus (ii) the product of (a) $1,000 times (b) the buffer rate times (c) the sum of the underlier return plus the buffer amount

Initial underlier level (set on the trade date):

Final underlier level: the closing level of the underlier on the determination date, subject to adjustment as provided in “— Consequences of a market disruption event or non-trading day” and “— Discontinuance or modification of the underlier” below

Cap level (set on the trade date): at least 109% of the initial underlier level

Maximum settlement amount (set on the trade date):  at least $1,180

Upside participation rate: 200%

Underlier return: the quotient of (i) the final underlier level minus the initial underlier level divided by (ii) the initial underlier level, expressed as a percentage

Buffer level: 90% of the initial underlier level

Buffer rate: 100%

Buffer amount: 10%

Trade date: expected to be January 26, 2021

Original issue date (set on the trade date): expected to be Janaury 29, 2021

PS-3


 

Determination date (set on the trade date): expected to be July 26, 2023, unless the calculation agent determines that a market disruption event occurs or is continuing on such day or such day is not a trading day. In that event, the determination date will be the first following trading day on which the calculation agent determines that a market disruption event does not occur and is not continuing. However, the determination date will not be postponed to a date later than the originally scheduled stated maturity date or, if the originally scheduled stated maturity date is not a business day, later than the first business day after the originally scheduled stated maturity date. If a market disruption event occurs or is continuing on the day that is the last possible determination date or such last possible day is not a trading day, that day will nevertheless be the determination date.

Stated maturity date (set on the trade date): expected to be July 31, 2023, unless that day is not a business day, in which case the stated maturity date will be postponed to the next following business day. The stated maturity date will also be postponed if the determination date is postponed as described under “— Determination date” above. In such a case, the stated maturity date will be postponed by the same number of business day(s) from but excluding the originally scheduled determination date to and including the actual determination date.

Closing level: for any given trading day, the closing sale price or last reported sale price, regular way, for the underlier, on a per-share or other unit basis:

on the principal national securities exchange on which that underlier is listed for trading on that day, or

if the underlier is not listed on any national securities exchange on that day, on any other U.S. national market system that is the primary market for the trading of that underlier.  

If the underlier is not listed or traded as described above, then the closing level for the underlier on any day will be the average, as determined by the calculation agent, of the bid prices for the underlier obtained from as many dealers in the underlier selected by the calculation agent as will make those bid prices available to the calculation agent.  The number of dealers need not exceed three and may include the calculation agent or any of its or the company’s affiliates.

The closing level is subject to adjustment as described under “— Anti-dilution adjustments” below.

Trading day: a day on which (i) the exchange on which the underlier has its primary listing is open for trading and (ii) the price of one share of the underlier is quoted by the exchange on which such underlier has its primary listing

Successor underlier: any substitute underlier approved by the calculation agent as a successor underlier as provided under “— Discontinuance or modification of the underlier” below

Underlier investment advisor: at any time, the person or entity, including any successor investment advisor or trustee, as applicable, that manages the underlier as then in effect

Underlier stocks: at any time, the stocks that comprise the underlier as then in effect, after giving effect to any additions, deletions or substitutions

Market disruption event: With respect to any given trading day, any of the following will be a market disruption event with respect to the underlier:

a suspension, absence or material limitation of trading in the underlier on its primary market for more than two consecutive hours of trading or during the one-half hour before the close of trading in that market, as determined by the calculation agent in its sole discretion,

a suspension, absence or material limitation of trading in option or futures contracts relating to the underlier in the primary market for those contracts for more than two consecutive hours of trading or during the one-half hour before the close of trading in that market, as determined by the calculation agent in its sole discretion, or

the underlier does not trade on what was the primary market for the underlier, as determined by the calculation agent in its sole discretion,

and, in the case of any of these events, the calculation agent determines in its sole discretion that the event could materially interfere with the ability of the company or any of its affiliates or a similarly situated person to unwind all or a material portion of a hedge that could be effected with respect to this note.

The following events will not be market disruption events:

a limitation on the hours or numbers of days of trading, but only if the limitation results from an announced change in the regular business hours of the relevant market, and

a decision to permanently discontinue trading in option or futures contracts relating to the underlier.

For this purpose, an “absence of trading” in the primary securities market on which shares of the underlier are traded, or on which option or futures contracts, if available, relating to the underlier are traded, will not include any time when that market is itself closed for trading under ordinary circumstances.  In contrast, a suspension or

PS-4


 

limitation of trading in shares of the underlier or in option or futures contracts, if available, relating to the underlier in the primary market for the underlier or those contracts, by reason of:

a price change exceeding limits set by that market,

an imbalance of orders relating to the shares of the underlier or those contracts, or

a disparity in bid and ask quotes relating to the shares of the underlier or those contracts,

will constitute a suspension or material limitation of trading in shares of the underlier or those contracts in that market.

Consequences of a market disruption event or a non-trading day: If a market disruption event occurs or is continuing on a day that would otherwise be the determination date or such day is not a trading day, then the determination date will be postponed as described under “— Determination date” above.

If the calculation agent determines that the closing level of the underlier that must be used to determine the cash settlement amount is not available on the last possible determination date because of a market disruption event, a non-trading day or for any other reason (other than as described under “— Discontinuance or modification of the underlier” below), the calculation agent will nevertheless determine the closing level of the underlier based on its assessment, made in its sole discretion, of the level of the underlier on that day.

Discontinuance or modification of the underlier: If the underlier is delisted from the exchange on which the underlier has its primary listing and the underlier investment advisor or anyone else publishes a substitute underlier that the calculation agent determines is comparable to the underlier and approves as a successor underlier, or if the calculation agent designates a substitute underlier, then the calculation agent will determine the amount payable on the stated maturity date by reference to such successor underlier.

If the calculation agent determines that the underlier is delisted or withdrawn from the exchange on which the underlier has its primary listing and there is no successor underlier, the calculation agent will determine the amount payable on the stated maturity date by a computation methodology that the calculation agent determines will as closely as reasonably possible replicate the underlier.

If the calculation agent determines that the underlier, the underlier stocks or the method of calculating the underlier is changed at any time in any respect — including any split or reverse split of the underlier, a material change in the investment objective of the underlier and any addition, deletion or substitution and any reweighting or rebalancing of the underlier stocks and whether the change is made by the underlier investment advisor under its existing policies or following a modification of those policies, is due to the publication of a successor underlier, is due to events affecting one or more of the underlier stocks or their issuers or is due to any other reason —then the calculation agent will be permitted (but not required) to make such adjustments in the underlier or the method of its calculation as it believes are appropriate to ensure that the final underlier level, used to determine the amount payable on the stated maturity date, is equitable.

All determinations and adjustments to be made by the calculation agent with respect to the underlier may be made by the calculation agent in its sole discretion. The calculation agent is not obligated to make any such adjustments.

Anti-dilution adjustments: The calculation agent will have discretion to adjust the closing level of the underlier if certain events occur (including those described above under “— Discontinuance or modification of the underlier”). In the event that any event other than a delisting or withdrawal from the relevant exchange occurs, the calculation agent shall determine whether and to what extent an adjustment should be made to the level of the underlier or any other term. The calculation agent shall have no obligation to make an adjustment for any such event.

Calculation agent: Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC (“GS&Co.”)

Tax characterization: The holder, on behalf of itself and any other person having a beneficial interest in this note, hereby agrees with the company (in the absence of a change in law, an administrative determination or a judicial ruling to the contrary) to characterize this note for all U.S. federal income tax purposes as a pre-paid derivative contract in respect of the underlier.

Overdue principal rate: the effective Federal Funds rate


PS-5


 

LIMITED EVENTS OF DEFAULT

The only events of default for the notes are (i) payment defaults that continue for a 30 day-grace period and (ii) certain insolvency events. No other breach or default under our senior debt indenture or the notes will result in an event of default for the notes or permit the trustee or holders to accelerate the maturity of the notes - that is, they will not be entitled to declare the face or principal amount of any notes to be immediately due and payable. See “Risks Relating to Regulatory Resolution Strategies and Long-Term Debt Requirements” and “Description of Debt Securities We May Offer — Default, Remedies and Waiver of Default — Securities Issued Under the 2008 GSFC Indenture” in the accompanying prospectus for further details.


PS-6


 

HYPOTHETICAL EXAMPLES

The following examples are provided for purposes of illustration only. They should not be taken as an indication or prediction of future investment results and merely are intended to illustrate the impact that the various hypothetical underlier levels on the determination date could have on the cash settlement amount at maturity assuming all other variables remain constant.

The examples below are based on a range of final underlier levels that are entirely hypothetical; the underlier level on any day throughout the life of the notes, including the final underlier level on the determination date, cannot be predicted. The underlier has been highly volatile in the past — meaning that the underlier level has changed considerably in relatively short periods — and its performance cannot be predicted for any future period.

The information in the following examples reflects hypothetical rates of return on the offered notes assuming that they are purchased on the original issue date at the face amount and held to the stated maturity date. If you sell your notes in a secondary market prior to the stated maturity date, your return will depend upon the market value of your notes at the time of sale, which may be affected by a number of factors that are not reflected in the examples below, such as interest rates, the volatility of the underlier, the creditworthiness of GS Finance Corp., as issuer, and the creditworthiness of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., as guarantor. In addition, the estimated value of your notes at the time the terms of your notes are set on the trade date (as determined by reference to pricing models used by GS&Co.) is less than the original issue price of your notes. For more information on the estimated value of your notes, see “Additional Risk Factors Specific to Your Notes — The Estimated Value of Your Notes At the Time the Terms of Your Notes Are Set On the Trade Date (as Determined By Reference to Pricing Models Used By GS&Co.) Is Less Than the Original Issue Price Of Your Notes” on page PS-10 of this pricing supplement. The information in the examples also reflects the key terms and assumptions in the box below.

Key Terms and Assumptions

Face amount

$1,000

Upside participation rate

200%

Cap level

109% of the initial underlier level

Maximum settlement amount

$1,180

Buffer level

90% of the initial underlier level

Buffer rate

100%

Buffer amount

10%

Neither a market disruption event nor a non-trading day occurs on the originally scheduled determination date

No change in or affecting the underlier, any of the underlier stocks or the policies of the underlier’s investment advisor or the method by which the underlying index sponsor calculates its underlying index

Notes purchased on original issue date at the face amount and held to the stated maturity date

Moreover, we have not yet set the initial underlier level that will serve as the baseline for determining the underlier return and the amount that we will pay on your notes at maturity. We will not do so until the trade date. As a result, the actual initial underlier level may differ substantially from the underlier level prior to the trade date.

For these reasons, the actual performance of the underlier over the life of your notes, as well as the amount payable at maturity may bear little relation to the hypothetical examples shown below or to the historical underlier levels shown elsewhere in this pricing supplement. For information about the historical levels of the underlier during recent periods, see “The Underlier — Historical Closing Levels of the Underlier” below. Before investing in the offered notes, you should consult publicly available information to determine the levels of the underlier between the date of this pricing supplement and the date of your purchase of the offered notes.

Also, the hypothetical examples shown below do not take into account the effects of applicable taxes. Because of the U.S. tax treatment applicable to your notes, tax liabilities could affect the after-tax rate of return on your notes to a comparatively greater extent than the after-tax return on the underlier stocks.

The levels in the left column of the table below represent hypothetical final underlier levels and are expressed as percentages of the initial underlier level. The amounts in the right column represent the hypothetical cash settlement amounts, based on the corresponding hypothetical final underlier level, and are expressed as percentages of the face amount of a note (rounded to the nearest one-thousandth of a percent). Thus, a hypothetical cash settlement amount of 100.000% means that the value of the cash payment that we would deliver for each $1,000 of the outstanding face amount of the offered notes on the stated maturity date would equal

PS-7


 

100.000% of the face amount of a note, based on the corresponding hypothetical final underlier level and the assumptions noted above.

 

Hypothetical Final Underlier Level

(as Percentage of Initial Underlier Level)

Hypothetical Cash Settlement Amount

(as Percentage of Face Amount)

 

200.000%

118.000%

 

185.000%

118.000%

 

160.000%

118.000%

 

135.000%

118.000%

 

109.000%

118.000%

 

106.000%

112.000%

 

103.000%

106.000%

 

100.000%

100.000%

 

97.000%

100.000%

 

95.000%

100.000%

 

92.000%

100.000%

 

90.000%

100.000%

 

75.000%

85.000%

 

50.000%

60.000%

 

25.000%

35.000%

 

0.000%

10.000%

If, for example, the final underlier level were determined to be 25.000% of the initial underlier level, the cash settlement amount that we would deliver on your notes at maturity would be 35.000% of the face amount of your notes, as shown in the table above. As a result, if you purchased your notes on the original issue date at the face amount and held them to the stated maturity date, you would lose 65.000% of your investment (if you purchased your notes at a premium to face amount you would lose a correspondingly higher percentage of your investment). If the final underlier level were determined to be 0.000% of the initial underlier level, you would lose 90.000% of your investment in the notes. In addition, if the final underlier level were determined to be 200.000% of the initial underlier level, the cash settlement amount that we would deliver on your notes at maturity would be capped at the maximum settlement amount, or 118.000% of each $1,000 face amount of your notes, as shown in the table above. As a result, if you held your notes to the stated maturity date, you would not benefit from any increase in the final underlier level over 109.000% of the initial underlier level.  

The following chart shows a graphical illustration of the hypothetical cash settlement amounts that we would pay on your notes on the stated maturity date, if the final underlier level were any of the hypothetical levels shown on the horizontal axis. The hypothetical cash settlement amounts in the chart are expressed as percentages of the face amount of your notes and the hypothetical final underlier levels are expressed as percentages of the initial underlier level. The chart shows that any hypothetical final underlier level of less than 90.000% (the section left of the 90.000% marker on the horizontal axis) would result in a hypothetical cash settlement amount of less than 100.000% of the face amount of your notes (the section below the 100.000% marker on the vertical axis) and, accordingly, in a loss of principal to the holder of the notes. The chart also shows that any hypothetical final underlier level of greater than or equal to 109.000% (the section right of the 109.000% marker on the horizontal axis) would result in a capped return on your investment.


PS-8


 

The cash settlement amounts shown above are entirely hypothetical; they are based on market prices for the underlier stocks that may not be achieved on the determination date and on assumptions that may prove to be erroneous. The actual market value of your notes on the stated maturity date or at any other time, including any time you may wish to sell your notes, may bear little relation to the hypothetical cash settlement amounts shown above, and these amounts should not be viewed as an indication of the financial return on an investment in the offered notes. The hypothetical cash settlement amounts on notes held to the stated maturity date in the examples above assume you purchased your notes at their face amount and have not been adjusted to reflect the actual issue price you pay for your notes. The return on your investment (whether positive or negative) in your notes will be affected by the amount you pay for your notes. If you purchase your notes for a price other than the face amount, the return on your investment will differ from, and may be significantly lower than, the hypothetical returns suggested by the above examples. Please read “Additional Risk Factors Specific to Your Notes — The Market Value of Your Notes May Be Influenced by Many Unpredictable Factors” on page PS-11.

Payments on the notes are economically equivalent to the amounts that would be paid on a combination of other instruments. For example, payments on the notes are economically equivalent to a combination of an interest-bearing bond bought by the holder and one or more options entered into between the holder and us (with one or more implicit option premiums paid over time). The discussion in this paragraph does not modify or affect the terms of the notes or the U.S. federal income tax treatment of the notes, as described elsewhere in this pricing supplement.

We cannot predict the actual final underlier level or what the market value of your notes will be on any particular trading day, nor can we predict the relationship between the underlier level and the market value of your notes at any time prior to the stated maturity date. The actual amount that you will receive at maturity and the rate of return on the offered notes will depend on the actual initial underlier level, the cap level and the maximum settlement amount, which we will set on the trade date, and the actual final underlier level determined by the calculation agent as described above. Moreover, the assumptions on which the hypothetical returns are based may turn out to be inaccurate. Consequently, the amount of cash to be paid in respect of your notes on the stated maturity date may be very different from the information reflected in the examples above.


PS-9


 

ADDITIONAL RISK FACTORS SPECIFIC TO YOUR NOTES

An investment in your notes is subject to the risks described below, as well as the risks and considerations described in the accompanying prospectus, in the accompanying prospectus supplement and under “Additional Risk Factors Specific to the Notes” in the accompanying general terms supplement no. 8,671. You should carefully review these risks and considerations as well as the terms of the notes described herein and in the accompanying prospectus, the accompanying prospectus supplement and the accompanying general terms supplement no. 8,671. Your notes are a riskier investment than ordinary debt securities. Also, your notes are not equivalent to investing directly in the underlier stocks, i.e., the stocks comprising the underlier to which your notes are linked. You should carefully consider whether the offered notes are appropriate given your particular circumstances.

The Estimated Value of Your Notes At the Time the Terms of Your Notes Are Set On the Trade Date (as Determined By Reference to Pricing Models Used By GS&Co.) Is Less Than the Original Issue Price Of Your Notes

The original issue price for your notes exceeds the estimated value of your notes as of the time the terms of your notes are set on the trade date, as determined by reference to GS&Co.’s pricing models and taking into account our credit spreads. Such estimated value on the trade date is set forth above under “Estimated Value of Your Notes; after the trade date, the estimated value as determined by reference to these models will be affected by changes in market conditions, the creditworthiness of GS Finance Corp., as issuer, the creditworthiness of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., as guarantor, and other relevant factors. The price at which GS&Co. would initially buy or sell your notes (if GS&Co. makes a market, which it is not obligated to do), and the value that GS&Co. will initially use for account statements and otherwise, also exceeds the estimated value of your notes as determined by reference to these models. As agreed by GS&Co. and the distribution participants, this excess (i.e., the additional amount described under “Estimated Value of Your Notes”) will decline to zero on a straight line basis over the period from the date hereof through the applicable date set forth above under “Estimated Value of Your Notes”. Thereafter, if GS&Co. buys or sells your notes it will do so at prices that reflect the estimated value determined by reference to such pricing models at that time. The price at which GS&Co. will buy or sell your notes at any time also will reflect its then current bid and ask spread for similar sized trades of structured notes.

In estimating the value of your notes as of the time the terms of your notes are set on the trade date, as disclosed above under “Estimated Value of Your Notes, GS&Co.’s pricing models consider certain variables, including principally our credit spreads, interest rates (forecasted, current and historical rates), volatility, price-sensitivity analysis and the time to maturity of the notes. These pricing models are proprietary and rely in part on certain assumptions about future events, which may prove to be incorrect. As a result, the actual value you would receive if you sold your notes in the secondary market, if any, to others may differ, perhaps materially, from the estimated value of your notes determined by reference to our models due to, among other things, any differences in pricing models or assumptions used by others. See “—The Market Value of Your Notes May Be Influenced by Many Unpredictable Factors” below.

The difference between the estimated value of your notes as of the time the terms of your notes are set on the trade date and the original issue price is a result of certain factors, including principally the underwriting discount and commissions, the expenses incurred in creating, documenting and marketing the notes, and an estimate of the difference between the amounts we pay to GS&Co. and the amounts GS&Co. pays to us in connection with your notes. We pay to GS&Co. amounts based on what we would pay to holders of a non-structured note with a similar maturity. In return for such payment, GS&Co. pays to us the amounts we owe under your notes.

In addition to the factors discussed above, the value and quoted price of your notes at any time will reflect many factors and cannot be predicted. If GS&Co. makes a market in the notes, the price quoted by GS&Co. would reflect any changes in market conditions and other relevant factors, including any deterioration in our creditworthiness or perceived creditworthiness or the creditworthiness or perceived creditworthiness of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. These changes may adversely affect the value of your notes, including the price you may receive for your notes in any market making transaction. To the extent that GS&Co. makes a market in the notes, the quoted price will reflect the estimated value determined by reference to GS&Co.’s pricing models at that time, plus or minus its then current bid and ask spread for similar sized trades of structured notes (and subject to the declining excess amount described above).

Furthermore, if you sell your notes, you will likely be charged a commission for secondary market transactions, or the price will likely reflect a dealer discount. This commission or discount will further reduce the proceeds you would receive for your notes in a secondary market sale.

There is no assurance that GS&Co. or any other party will be willing to purchase your notes at any price and, in this regard, GS&Co. is not obligated to make a market in the notes. See “Additional Risk Factors Specific to the Notes

PS-10


 

— Your Notes May Not Have an Active Trading Market” on page S-10 of the accompanying general terms supplement no. 8,671.

The Notes Are Subject to the Credit Risk of the Issuer and the Guarantor

Although the return on the notes will be based on the performance of the underlier, the payment of any amount due on the notes is subject to the credit risk of GS Finance Corp., as issuer of the notes, and the credit risk of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. as guarantor of the notes. The notes are our unsecured obligations. Investors are dependent on our ability to pay all amounts due on the notes, and therefore investors are subject to our credit risk and to changes in the market’s view of our creditworthiness. Similarly, investors are dependent on the ability of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., as guarantor of the notes, to pay all amounts due on the notes, and therefore are also subject to its credit risk and to changes in the market’s view of its creditworthiness. See “Description of the Notes We May Offer — Information About Our Medium-Term Notes, Series F Program — How the Notes Rank Against Other Debt” on page S-5 of the accompanying prospectus supplement and “Description of Debt Securities We May Offer — Guarantee by The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.” on page 68 of the accompanying prospectus.

The Amount Payable on Your Notes Is Not Linked to the Level of the Underlier at Any Time Other Than the Determination Date

The final underlier level will be based on the closing level of the underlier on the determination date (subject to adjustment as described elsewhere in this pricing supplement). Therefore, if the closing level of the underlier dropped precipitously on the determination date, the cash settlement amount for your notes may be significantly less than it would have been had the cash settlement amount been linked to the closing level of the underlier prior to such drop in the level of the underlier. Although the actual level of the underlier on the stated maturity date or at other times during the life of your notes may be higher than the final underlier level, you will not benefit from the closing level of the underlier at any time other than on the determination date.

You May Lose a Substantial Portion of Your Investment in the Notes

You can lose a substantial portion of your investment in the notes. The cash payment on your notes on the stated maturity date will be based on the performance of the underlier as measured from the initial underlier level set on the trade date to the closing level on the determination date. If the final underlier level is less than the buffer level, you will have a loss for each $1,000 of the face amount of your notes equal to the product of (i) the sum of the underlier return plus the buffer amount times (ii) $1,000. Thus, you may lose a substantial portion of your investment in the notes, which would include any premium to face amount you paid when you purchased the notes.

Also, the market price of your notes prior to the stated maturity date may be significantly lower than the purchase price you pay for your notes. Consequently, if you sell your notes before the stated maturity date, you may receive far less than the amount of your investment in the notes.

The Market Value of Your Notes May Be Influenced by Many Unpredictable Factors

When we refer to the market value of your notes, we mean the value that you could receive for your notes if you chose to sell them in the open market before the stated maturity date. A number of factors, many of which are beyond our control, will influence the market value of your notes, including:

the level of the underlier;

the volatility – i.e., the frequency and magnitude of changes – in the closing level of the underlier;

the dividend rates of the underlier stocks;

economic, financial, regulatory, political, military, public health and other events that affect stock markets generally and the underlier stocks, and which may affect the closing level of the underlier;

interest rates and yield rates in the market;

the time remaining until your notes mature; and

our creditworthiness and the creditworthiness of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., whether actual or perceived, and including actual or anticipated upgrades or downgrades in our credit ratings or the credit ratings of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. or changes in other credit measures.

These factors may influence the market value of your notes if you sell your notes before maturity, including the price you may receive for your notes in any market making transaction. If you sell your notes prior to maturity, you may receive less than the face amount of your notes. You cannot predict the future performance of the underlier based on its historical performance.

PS-11


 

Your Notes Do Not Bear Interest

You will not receive any interest payments on your notes. As a result, even if the cash settlement amount payable for your notes on the stated maturity date exceeds the face amount of your notes, the overall return you earn on your notes may be less than you would have earned by investing in a non-indexed debt security of comparable maturity that bears interest at a prevailing market rate.

The Potential for the Value of Your Notes to Increase Will Be Limited

Your ability to participate in any change in the value of the underlier over the life of your notes will be limited because of the maximum settlement amount. The maximum settlement amount will limit the cash settlement amount you may receive for each of your notes at maturity, no matter how much the level of the underlier may rise beyond the cap level over the life of your notes. Accordingly, the amount payable for each of your notes may be significantly less than it would have been had you invested directly in the underlier.

The Return on Your Notes Will Not Reflect Any Dividends Paid on the Underlier or the Underlier Stocks

The return on your notes will not reflect the return you would realize if you actually owned the underlier and received the distributions paid on the shares of the underlier. You will not receive any dividends that may be paid on any of the underlier stocks by the underlier stock issuers or the shares of the underlier. See “—You Have No Shareholder Rights or Rights to Receive Any Shares of the Underlier or Any Underlier Stock” below for additional information.

You Have No Shareholder Rights or Rights to Receive Any Shares of the Underlier or Any Underlier Stock

Investing in your notes will not make you a holder of any shares of the underlier or any underlier stocks. Neither you nor any other holder or owner of your notes will have any rights with respect to the underlier or the underlier stocks, including any voting rights, any right to receive dividends or other distributions, any rights to make a claim against the underlier or the underlier stocks or any other rights of a holder of any shares of the underlier or the underlier stocks. Your notes will be paid in cash and you will have no right to receive delivery of any shares of the underlier or any underlier stocks.

We May Sell an Additional Aggregate Face Amount of the Notes at a Different Issue Price

At our sole option, we may decide to sell an additional aggregate face amount of the notes subsequent to the date of this pricing supplement. The issue price of the notes in the subsequent sale may differ substantially (higher or lower) from the original issue price you paid as provided on the cover of this pricing supplement.

If You Purchase Your Notes at a Premium to Face Amount, the Return on Your Investment Will Be Lower Than the Return on Notes Purchased at Face Amount and the Impact of Certain Key Terms of the Notes Will Be Negatively Affected

The cash settlement amount will not be adjusted based on the issue price you pay for the notes. If you purchase notes at a price that differs from the face amount of the notes, then the return on your investment in such notes held to the stated maturity date will differ from, and may be substantially less than, the return on notes purchased at face amount. If you purchase your notes at a premium to face amount and hold them to the stated maturity date, the return on your investment in the notes will be lower than it would have been had you purchased the notes at face amount or a discount to face amount. In addition, the impact of the buffer level and the cap level on the return on your investment will depend upon the price you pay for your notes relative to face amount. For example, if you purchase your notes at a premium to face amount, the cap level will only permit a lower positive return in your investment in the notes than would have been the case for notes purchased at face amount or a discount to face amount. Similarly, the buffer level, while still providing some protection for the return on the notes, will allow a greater percentage decrease in your investment in the notes than would have been the case for notes purchased at face amount or a discount to face amount.

The Policies of the Underlier’s Trustee, the Bank of New York Mellon, and the Sponsor of Its Underlying Index, Nasdaq, Inc., Could Affect the Amount Payable on Your Notes and Their Market Value

The underlier’s trustee, the Bank of New York Mellon (the “underlier investment advisor”) may from time to time be called upon to make certain policy decisions or judgments with respect to the implementation of policies of the underlier investment advisor concerning the calculation of the net asset value of the underlier, additions, deletions or substitutions of securities in the underlier and the manner in which changes affecting its underlying index are reflected in the underlier that could affect the market price of the shares of the underlier, and therefore, the amount payable on your notes on the stated maturity date. The amount payable on your notes and their market value could also be affected if the underlier investment advisor changes these policies, for example, by changing the manner in which it calculates the net asset value of the underlier, or if the underlier investment advisor discontinues or

PS-12


 

suspends calculation or publication of the net asset value of the underlier, in which case it may become difficult or inappropriate to determine the market value of your notes.

If events such as these occur, the calculation agent — which initially will be GS&Co. — may determine the closing level of the underlier on the determination date — and thus the amount payable on the stated maturity date, if any — in a manner, in its sole discretion, it considers appropriate. We describe the discretion that the calculation agent will have in determining the closing level on the determination date and the amount payable on your notes more fully under “Terms and Conditions — Discontinuance or modification of the underlier” on page PS-7 of this pricing supplement.

In addition, Nasdaq, Inc., the underlier sponsor of its underlying index owns its underlying index and is responsible for the design and maintenance of its underlying index. The policies of the underlying index sponsor concerning the calculation of its underlying index, including decisions regarding the addition, deletion or substitution of the equity securities included in its underlying index, could affect the level of its underlying index and, consequently, could affect the market price of shares of the underlier and, therefore, the amount payable on your notes and their market value.

There is No Assurance That an Active Trading Market Will Continue for the Underlier or That There Will Be Liquidity in Any Such Trading Market; Further, the Underlier is Subject to Management Risks and Custody Risks

Although the underlier’s shares are listed for trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market (“Nasdaq”) and a number of similar products have been traded on Nasdaq or other securities exchanges for varying periods of time, there is no assurance that an active trading market will continue for the shares of the underlier or that there will be liquidity in the trading market.

In addition, the underlier is subject to management risk, which is the risk that the underlier investment advisor’s investment strategy, the implementation of which is subject to a number of constraints, may not produce the intended results. The underlier is also not actively managed and may be affected by a general decline in market segments relating to its underlying index. The underlier investment advisor invests in securities included in, or representative of, its underlying index regardless of their investment merits. The underlier investment advisor does not attempt to take defensive positions in declining markets.

In addition, the underlier is subject to custody risk, which refers to the risks in the process of clearing and settling trades and to the holding of securities by local banks, agents and depositories.

Further, the underlier is subject to listing standards adopted by Nasdaq. There can be no assurance that the underlier will continue to meet the applicable listing requirements, or that the underlier will not be delisted.

The Underlier and Its Underlying Index Are Different and the Performance of the Underlier May Not Correlate With the Performance of Its Underlying Index

Although the underlier generally invests in all of the securities included in its underlying index, the underlier may not hold all or substantially all of the equity securities included in its underlying index and may hold securities or assets not included in its underlying index. For example, it is possible that the underlier may not always fully replicate the performance of the underlying index due to unavailability of certain underlying index securities in the secondary market or due to other extraordinary circumstances (e.g., if trading in a security has been halted). Further, although the underlier seeks to track the performance of the underlying index as closely as possible, the underlier’s return may not match or achieve a high degree of correlation with the return of the underlying index due to, among other things, transaction costs.

In addition, the performance of the underlier will reflect additional transaction costs and fees that are not included in the calculation of its underlying index and this may increase the tracking error of the underlier. Also, corporate actions with respect to the sample of equity securities (such as mergers and spin-offs) may impact the performance differential between the underlier and its underlying index. Finally, because the shares of the underlier are traded on Nasdaq and are subject to market supply and investor demand, the market value of one share of the underlier may differ from the net asset value per share of the underlier.

For all of the foregoing reasons, the performance of the underlier may not correlate with the performance of its underlying index. Consequently, the return on the notes will not be the same as investing directly in the underlier or in its underlying index or in the underlier stocks or in its underlying index stocks, and will not be the same as investing in a debt security with a payment at maturity linked to the performance of its underlying index.


PS-13


 

As Compared to Other Index Sponsors, Nasdaq, Inc. Retains Significant Control and Discretionary Decision-Making Over the Nasdaq-100 Index®, Which May Have an Adverse Effect on the Level of the Nasdaq-100 Index®, on the Performance of the Underlier and on Your Notes

Pursuant to the Nasdaq-100 Index® methodology, Nasdaq, Inc. retains the right, from time to time, to exercise reasonable discretion as it deems appropriate in order to ensure Nasdaq-100 Index® integrity, including, but not limited to, changes to quantitative inclusion criteria. Nasdaq, Inc. may also, due to special circumstances, apply discretionary adjustments to ensure and maintain quality of the Nasdaq-100 Index®.  Although it is unclear how and to what extent this discretion could or would be exercised, it is possible that it could be exercised by Nasdaq, Inc. in a manner that materially and adversely affects the level of the Nasdaq-100 Index® and, consequently, the market prices of shares of the underlier, which may therefore affect the return on your notes and their market value. Nasdaq, Inc. is not obligated to, and will not, take account of your interests in exercising the discretion described above.

An Investment in the Offered Notes Is Subject to Risks Associated with Foreign Securities

The value of your notes is linked to an underlier that holds, in part, stocks traded in one or more foreign securities markets. Investments linked to the value of foreign equity securities involve particular risks. Any foreign securities market may be less liquid, more volatile and affected by global or domestic market developments in a different way than are the U.S. securities market or other foreign securities markets. Both government intervention in a foreign securities market, either directly or indirectly, and cross-shareholdings in foreign companies, may affect trading prices and volumes in that market. Also, there is generally less publicly available information about foreign companies than about those U.S. companies that are subject to the reporting requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Further, foreign companies are subject to accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards and requirements that differ from those applicable to U.S. reporting companies. 

The prices of securities in a foreign country are subject to political, economic, financial and social factors that are unique to such foreign country's geographical region. These factors include: recent changes, or the possibility of future changes, in the applicable foreign government's economic and fiscal policies; the possible implementation of, or changes in, currency exchange laws or other laws or restrictions applicable to foreign companies or investments in foreign equity securities; fluctuations, or the possibility of fluctuations, in currency exchange rates; and the possibility of outbreaks of hostility, political instability, natural disaster or adverse public health developments. The United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the European Union on January 31, 2020 (an event commonly referred to as “Brexit”). The effects of Brexit are uncertain, and, among other things, Brexit has contributed, and may continue to contribute, to volatility in the prices of securities of companies located in Europe (or elsewhere) and currency exchange rates, including the valuation of the euro and British pound in particular. Any one of these factors, or the combination of more than one of these factors, could negatively affect such foreign securities market and the price of securities therein. Further, geographical regions may react to global factors in different ways, which may cause the prices of securities in a foreign securities market to fluctuate in a way that differs from those of securities in the U.S. securities market or other foreign securities markets. Foreign economies may also differ from the U.S. economy in important respects, including growth of gross national product, rate of inflation, capital reinvestment, resources and self-sufficiency, which may have a positive or negative effect on foreign securities prices.

Because foreign exchanges may be open on days when the underlier is not traded, the value of the foreign securities underlying the underlier may change on days when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell shares of the underlier.

The Return on Your Notes Will Not Reflect Any Dividends Paid on the Underlier or the Underlier Stocks

The return on your notes will not reflect the return you would realize if you actually owned the underlier and received the distributions paid on the shares of the underlier.  You will not receive any dividends that may be paid on any of the underlier stocks by the underlier stock issuers or the shares of the underlier.  See “— You Have No Shareholder Rights or Rights to Receive Any Shares of the Underlier or Any Underlier Stock” below for additional information.


PS-14


 

You Have No Shareholder Rights or Rights to Receive Any Shares of the Underlier or Any Underlier Stock

Investing in your notes will not make you a holder of any shares of the underlier or any underlier stocks. Neither you nor any other holder or owner of your notes will have any rights with respect to the underlier or underlier stocks, including any voting rights, any right to receive dividends or other distributions, any rights to make a claim against the underlier or the underlier stocks or any other rights of a holder of any shares of the underlier or the underlier stocks. Your notes will be paid in cash and you will have no right to receive delivery of any shares of any underlier or any underlier stocks.

The Tax Consequences of an Investment in Your Notes Are Uncertain  

The tax consequences of an investment in your notes are uncertain, both as to the timing and character of any inclusion in income in respect of your notes.

The Internal Revenue Service announced on December 7, 2007 that it is considering issuing guidance regarding the proper U.S. federal income tax treatment of an instrument such as your notes, and any such guidance could adversely affect the tax treatment and the value of your notes. Among other things, the Internal Revenue Service may decide to require the holders to accrue ordinary income on a current basis and recognize ordinary income on payment at maturity, and could subject non-U.S. investors to withholding tax. Furthermore, in 2007, legislation was introduced in Congress that, if enacted, would have required holders that acquired instruments such as your notes after the bill was enacted to accrue interest income over the term of such instruments even though there will be no interest payments over the term of such instruments. It is not possible to predict whether a similar or identical bill will be enacted in the future, or whether any such bill would affect the tax treatment of your notes. We describe these developments in more detail under “Supplemental Discussion of U.S. Federal Income Tax Consequences – United States Holders – Possible Change in Law” below. You should consult your tax advisor about this matter. Except to the extent otherwise provided by law, GS Finance Corp. intends to continue treating the notes for U.S. federal income tax purposes in accordance with the treatment described under “Supplemental Discussion of U.S. Federal Income Tax Consequences” below unless and until such time as Congress, the Treasury Department or the Internal Revenue Service determine that some other treatment is more appropriate. Please also consult your tax advisor concerning the U.S. federal income tax and any other applicable tax consequences to you of owning your notes in your particular circumstances.

Your Notes May Be Subject to the Constructive Ownership Rules

There exists a risk that the constructive ownership rules of Section 1260 of the Internal Revenue Code could apply to your notes. If your notes were subject to the constructive ownership rules, then any long-term capital gain that you realize upon the sale, exchange or maturity of your notes would be re-characterized as ordinary income (and you would be subject to an interest charge on deferred tax liability with respect to such re-characterized capital gain) to the extent that such capital gain exceeds the amount of “net underlying long-term capital gain” (as defined in Section 1260 of the Internal Revenue Code). Because the application of the constructive ownership rules is unclear you are strongly urged to consult your tax advisor with respect to the possible application of the constructive ownership rules to your investment in the notes.

Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) Withholding May Apply to Payments on Your Notes, Including as a Result of the Failure of the Bank or Broker Through Which You Hold the Notes to Provide Information to Tax Authorities

Please see the discussion under “United States Taxation — Taxation of Debt Securities — Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) Withholding” in the accompanying prospectus for a description of the applicability of FATCA to payments made on your notes.


PS-15


 

THE UNDERLIER

The shares of the Invesco QQQ TrustSM, Series 1 (the “shares”) are issued by Invesco QQQ TrustSM (the “trust”), a unit investment trust that is a registered investment company.

The trust is like a tracking ETF in that it seeks to track the investment results, before fees and expenses, of the underlying index.

The index it tracks is the Nasdaq-100 Index®.

The trust does not have an investment advisor. Its investments are adjusted by the trustee.

The trustee for the trust is Bank of New York Mellon.

The trust sponsor is Invesco Capital Management, LLC.

The shares trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “QQQ”.

The trust’s SEC CIK Number is 0001067839.

The inception date for purposes of the shares was March 10, 1999.

The trust’s shares are issued or redeemed only in creation units of 50,000 shares.

We obtained the following fee information from the trust’s publicly available information without independent verification. The trustee is entitled to receive a fee for services performed for the trust corresponding to the net asset value of the trust, at an annual rate of 0.01% per annum for the first $499,999,999 of assets, 0.08% per annum for assets of $500,000,000 or more up to $2,499,999,999, 0.06% per annum for assets of $2,500,000,000 or more up to $24,999,999,999, 0.05% per annum for assets of $25,000,000,000 or more up to $49,999,999,999 and 0.04% per annum for assets of $50,000,000,000 or more.  In addition, the trust pays a licensing fee to Nasdaq OMX to license the Nasdaq-100 Index® for use in connection with the trust shares, which is not to exceed 0.09% of the trust’s net asset value. The trust also pays marketing fees to the trust sponsor in connection with marketing the trust’s shares.  The trust sponsor has agreed that it will assume the trust’s annual operating expenses to the extent they exceed 0.20% per annum, although the sponsor can discontinue this agreement at any time.  Transaction costs the trust incurs as a result of adjustments to the portfolio are not considered annual operating expenses.  As of September 30, 2020, the trust’s total expense ratio is 0.20% per annum.

For additional information regarding the trust, please consult the reports (including the Annual Report of Registered Investment Companies on Form N-CEN for the year ended December 31, 2019) and other information the trust files with the SEC. Additional information regarding the trust, including its top portfolio holdings, may be obtained from other sources including, but not limited to, press releases, newspaper articles, other publicly available documents, and the Invesco website at invesco.com/portal/site/us/investors/etfs/product-detail?productId=QQQ. We are not incorporating by reference the website, the sources listed above or any material they include in this pricing supplement.

Investment Objective and Strategy

The trust seeks investment results that, before expenses, track the performance of the Nasdaq-100 Index®. The trust strives to achieve its investment objective by holding a portfolio of all of the common stocks that are included in the Nasdaq-100 Index®, with the weight of each stock in the trust’s portfolio substantially corresponding to the weight of such stock in the Nasdaq-100 Index®. The trust may also generally hold cash or cash items that will not consist of a substantial part of the trust’s net assets. Although the trust may fail to own certain securities included in the Nasdaq-100 Index® at any particular time, the trust generally will be substantially invested in Nasdaq-100 Index® securities and the trust intends for such investments to result in a close correspondence between the performance of the Nasdaq-100 Index® and the performance of the shares of the trust.

To maintain the correspondence between the composition and weightings of the common stocks that are actually held by the trust and the common stocks that are included in the Nasdaq-100 Index®, the trustee adjusts the trust portfolio from time to time to conform to periodic changes made by the Nasdaq-100 Index® sponsor to the identity and/or relative weightings of the common stocks that are included in the Nasdaq-100 Index®. The trustee aggregates certain of these adjustments and makes changes to the trust’s portfolio at least monthly, or more frequently in the case of significant changes to the Nasdaq-100 Index®. The trustee must adjust the portfolio within three business days if a constituent is added or removed from the Nasdaq-100 Index® or the weighting of the stock in the Nasdaq-100 Index® and the trust differ by more than 150% of specified misweighting tolerances that decrease as the net asset value of the trust increases.  The trustee examines the weighting of the portfolio, and compares the weighting of each stock in the portfolio to its weight in the Nasdaq‑100 Index®, on each business day.  The trustee is permitted to, and does from time to time, sell portfolio securities in order to pay the trust’s expenses.

PS-16


 

Notwithstanding the trust’s investment objective, the return on your notes will not reflect any dividends paid on the shares of the trust, on the securities purchased by the trust or on the securities that comprise the Nasdaq-100 Index®.

The following table displays the top ten holdings and the weightings by industry sector of the trust. (Sector designations are determined by the trust sponsor using criteria it has selected or developed. Trust sponsors may use very different standards for determining sector designations. In addition, many companies operate in a number of sectors, but are listed in only one sector and the basis on which that sector is selected may also differ. As a result, sector comparisons between trusts with different sponsors may reflect differences in methodology as well as actual differences in the sector composition of the trusts.) We obtained the information in the tables below from the trust website without independent verification.

Top Ten Holdings of the Trust as of December 21, 2020

Issuer

Percentage of Trust (%)

Apple Inc.

12.03%

Microsoft Corp.

9.29%

Amazon.com Inc.

8.88%

Tesla Inc.

4.21%

Facebook, Inc.

3.62%

Alphabet Inc. Class C

3.17%

Alphabet Inc. Class A

2.88%

NVIDIA Corp.

2.77%

PayPal  Holdings Inc.

2.34%

Adobe Inc.

2.01%

Weighting by Sector of the Trust as of December 21, 2020*

Sector

Percentage of Trust (%)

Information Technology

48.23%

Consumer Discretionary

18.82%

Health Care

6.61%

Consumer Staples

5.14%

Industrials

1.89%

Communication Services

18.35%

Utilities

0.97%

Financials

0.00%

* Percentages may not sum to 100% due to rounding

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PS-17


 

 

 

Correlation

Although the trust intends to track the performance of the Nasdaq-100 Index® as closely as possible, the trust will not be able to replicate exactly the performance of the index because the total return generated by the stocks held in the trust’s portfolio will be reduced by transaction costs incurred in adjusting the actual balance of the stocks and other trust expenses, whereas such transaction costs and expenses are not included in the calculation of the index. In addition, it is possible that the trust may not always fully replicate the performance of the Nasdaq-100 Index® due to unavailability of certain Nasdaq-100 Index® securities in the secondary market or due to other extraordinary circumstances (e.g., if trading in a security has been halted).

For the period ended November 30, 2020, the Invesco website gave the following performance figures for market price of the shares of the trust and the index: trust shares— 1 year on an annualized basis, 46.75%; 3 years on an annualized basis, 25.36%, 5 years on an annualized basis, 22.34%, 10 years on an annualized basis, 20.31%, since inception on an annualized basis 7.77%; index— 1 year on an annualized basis, 47.30%; 3 years on an annualized basis, 9.15%, 5 years on an annualized basis, 22.67%, 10 years on an annualized basis, 20.59%, since inception on an annualized basis, 9.40%.

Trust Structure and Termination

The trust is organized under New York law.  Under an agency agreement with the trust sponsor, the sponsor performs certain functions for the trustee, including evaluation of the securities for purposes of calculating the net asset value and with respect to rebalancing and adjusting the trust’s portfolio.  The trust has a finite lifetime and will terminate on the first to occur of March 4, 2124 or 20 years following the death of the last surviving member of a group of 15 named people, the oldest of which was born in 1986 and the youngest of which was born in 1996.

 

Nasdaq-100 Index®

 

The Nasdaq-100 Index® is designed to measure the performance of 100 of the largest Nasdaq listed non-financial stocks. The Nasdaq-100 Index® is a “price return” index and is calculated using a modified market capitalization-weighted methodology. We have derived all information contained in this pricing supplement regarding the Nasdaq-100 Index® from publicly available information. Additional information about the Nasdaq-100 Index® is available on the following website: indexes.nasdaqomx.com/Index/Overview/NDX. We are not incorporating by reference the website or any material it includes in this pricing supplement.

 

Security Eligibility Criteria

Eligible security types generally include American depositary receipts, common stocks, ordinary shares, tracking stocks, shares of beneficial interest, and limited partnership interests. If the security is a depositary receipt representing a security of a non-U.S. issuer, then references to the "issuer" are references to the underlying security and the total shares outstanding (“TSO”) is the actual depositary shares outstanding as reported by the depositary banks.

If an issuer has listed multiple security classes, all security classes are eligible, subject to meeting all other security eligibility criteria.

The issuer of the security's primary U.S. listing must exclusively be listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market or the Nasdaq Global Market. If the issuer of the security is organized under the laws of a jurisdiction outside the U.S., then such security must have listed options on a registered options market in the U.S. or be eligible for listed options trading on a registered options market in the U.S.

The security must be classified as a non-financial company (those companies that are classified under any industry code other than 8000) according to the Industry Classification Benchmark, a product of FTSE International Limited licensed for this use.

There is no market capitalization eligibility criterion. Each security must have a minimum average daily trading volume of 200,000 shares (measured over the three calendar months ending with the month that includes the reconstitution reference date).

The security must have traded for at least three full calendar months, not including the month of initial listing, on an eligible exchange, which includes Nasdaq (Nasdaq Global Select Market, Nasdaq Global Market, or Nasdaq Capital

PS-18


 

Market), NYSE, NYSE American or CBOE BZX. Eligibility is determined as of the constituent selection reference date, and includes that month. There is no float eligibility criterion.

The issuer of the security generally may not currently be in bankruptcy proceedings.

The issuer of the security generally may not have entered into a definitive agreement or other arrangement that would make it ineligible for index inclusion and where the transaction is imminent as determined by the Nasdaq Index Management Committee.

Index Calendar

Nasdaq selects constituents once annually in December. The security eligibility criteria are applied using market data as of the end of October and TSO as of the end of November. Index reconstitutions are announced in early December and become effective after the close of trading on the third Friday in December.

The Nasdaq-100 Index® is rebalanced on a quarterly basis in March, June, September and December. The Nasdaq-100 Index® rebalance uses the TSO and last sale price of all index securities as of the prior month-end (February, May, August and November respectively). Index rebalance changes are announced in early March, June, September and December and become effective after the close of trading on the third Friday in March, June, September and December. A special rebalance may be conducted at any time based on the weighting restrictions described in the index rebalance procedure if it is determined to be necessary to maintain the integrity of the Nasdaq-100 Index®.

 

Constituent Selection

 

A reconstitution is conducted on an annual basis, at which time all eligible issuers, ranked by market capitalization, are considered for index inclusion based on the following order of criteria.

The top 75 ranked issuers will be selected for inclusion in the Nasdaq-100 Index®.

Any other issuers that were already members of the Nasdaq-100 Index® as of the reconstitution reference date and are ranked within the top 100 are also selected for inclusion in the Nasdaq-100 Index®.

In the event that fewer than 100 issuers pass the first two criteria, the remaining positions will first be filled, in rank order, by current index members that were in the top 100 at the previous reconstitution but are ranked in positions 101-125 in the current reconstitution.

In the event that fewer than 100 issuers pass the first three criteria, the remaining positions will be filled, in rank order, by any issuers ranked in the top 100 that were not already members of the Nasdaq-100 Index® as of the reference date.

 

Constituent Weighting

Constituent Weighting Scheme

The Nasdaq-100 Index® is a modified market capitalization-weighted index.

Constituent Weighting Process

The Nasdaq-100 Index®’s quarterly weight adjustment employs a two-stage weight adjustment scheme according to issuer- level constraints.

Index securities’ initial weights are determined using up to two calculations of market capitalization: TSO-derived market capitalization and index share-derived market capitalization. TSO-derived market capitalization is defined as a security’s last sale price times its total shares outstanding. Index share-derived market capitalization is defined as a security’s last sale price times its updated index shares as of the prior month end. Both TSO-derived and index share-derived market capitalizations can be used to calculate TSO-derived and index share-derived initial index weights by dividing each index security’s (TSO- or index share-derived) market capitalization by the aggregate (TSO- or index share-derived) market capitalization of all index securities.

When the rebalance coincides with the reconstitution, only TSO-derived initial weights are used. When the rebalance does not coincide with the reconstitution, index share-derived initial weights are used when doing so

PS-19


 

results in no weight adjustment; otherwise, TSO-derived weights are used in both stages of the weight adjustment procedure. Issuer weights are the aggregated weights of the issuers’ respective index securities.

Stage 1. If no initial issuer weight exceeds 24%, initial weights are used as Stage 1 weights; otherwise, initial weights are adjusted to meet the following Stage 1 constraint, producing the Stage 1 weights:

No issuer weight may exceed 20% of the Nasdaq-100 Index®.

 

Stage 2. If the aggregate weight of the subset of issuers whose Stage 1 weights exceed 4.5% does not exceed 48%, Stage 1 weights are used as final weights; otherwise, Stage 1 weights are adjusted to meet the following Stage 2 constraint, producing the final weights:

 

The aggregate weight of the subset of issuers whose Stage 1 weights exceed 4.5% is set to 40%.

 

Annual Weight Adjustment

The Nasdaq-100 Index®’s annual weight adjustment employs a two-stage weight adjustment scheme according to security-level constraints. Index securities’ initial weights are determined via the quarterly weight adjustment procedure.

Stage 1. If no initial security weight exceeds 15%, initial weights are used as Stage 1 weights; otherwise, initial weights are adjusted to meet the following Stage 1 constraint, producing the Stage 1 weights:

No security weight may exceed 14% of the Nasdaq-100 Index®.

 

Stage 2. If the aggregate weight of the subset of index securities with the five largest market capitalizations is less than 40%, Stage 1 weights are used as final weights; otherwise, Stage 1 weights are adjusted to meet the following constraints, producing the final weights:

The aggregate weight of the subset of index securities with the five largest market capitalizations is set to 38.5%.

No security with a market capitalization outside the largest five may have a final index weight exceeding the lesser of 4.4% or the final index weight of the index security ranked fifth by market capitalization.

Nasdaq-100 Index® Calculation

The discussion below describes the “price return” calculation of the Nasdaq-100 Index®. As compared to the gross total return or net total return versions of the Nasdaq-100 Index®, the price return version is ordinarily calculated without regard to ordinary cash dividends on the Nasdaq-100 Index® stocks. However, all Nasdaq-100 Index® calculations reflect special cash dividends.

The Nasdaq-100 Index® is a modified market capitalization-weighted index. The value of the Nasdaq- 100 Index® equals the Nasdaq-100 Index® market value divided by the Nasdaq-100 Index® divisor. The overall Nasdaq-100 Index® market value is the aggregate of each Nasdaq-100 Index® stock’s market value, as may be adjusted for any corporate actions. A Nasdaq-100 Index® stock’s market value is determined by multiplying the last sale price by the number of shares of the index security included in the Nasdaq-100 Index®. In other words, the value of the Nasdaq-100 Index® is equal to (i) the sum of the products of (a) the index shares of each of the Nasdaq-100 Index® stocks multiplied by (b) each such stock’s last sale price (adjusted for corporate actions, if any), divided by (ii) the divisor of the Nasdaq-100 Index®.

The price return Nasdaq-100 Index® divisor is calculated as the ratio of (i) the start of day market value of the Nasdaq-100 Index® divided by (ii) the previous day Nasdaq-100 Index® value.

If an index security does not trade on the relevant Nasdaq exchange on a given day or the relevant Nasdaq exchange has not opened for trading, the previous index calculation day’s closing price for index security (adjusted for corporate actions occurring prior to market open on the current day, if any) is used. If an index security is halted during the trading day, the most recent last sale price is used until trading resumes. For securities where the Nasdaq Stock Market is the relevant Nasdaq exchange, the last sale price may be the Nasdaq Official Closing Price when it is closed.

PS-20


 

Index Maintenance

Deletion Policy

If, at any time other than an index reconstitution, Nasdaq determines that an index security has or will undergo a fundamental alteration that would make it ineligible for index inclusion, the index security is removed as soon as practicable.

Such alterations may include:

A listings switch to an ineligible index exchange.

Merger, acquisition, or other major corporate event that would adversely impact the integrity of the Nasdaq-100 Index®.

If the security is reclassified as a financial company (those companies that are classified under Industry code 8000).

If the issuer has an adjusted market capitalization below 0.10% of the aggregate adjusted market capitalization of the Nasdaq-100 Index® for two consecutive month ends.

In the case of mergers and acquisitions, the effective date for the removal of an index issuer or security will be largely event-based, with the goal to remove the issuer or security as soon as completion of the acquisition or merger has been deemed highly probable. Notable events include, but are not limited to, completion of various regulatory reviews, the conclusion of material lawsuits and/or shareholder and board approvals.

If at the time of the removal of the index issuer or security there is not sufficient time to provide advance notification of the replacement issuer or security so that both the removal and replacement can be effective on the same day, the index issuer or security being removed will be retained and persisted in the index calculations at its last sale price until the effective date of the replacement issuer or security’s entry to the Nasdaq-100 Index®.

Replacement Policy

 

Securities may be added to the Nasdaq-100 Index® outside of the index reconstitution when there is a deletion. The index security (or all index securities under the same issuer, if appropriate) is replaced as soon as practicable if the issuer in its entirety is being deleted from the Nasdaq-100 Index®. The issuer with the largest market capitalization as of the prior month end which is not in the Nasdaq-100 Index® will replace the deleted issuer.

For pending deletions set to occur soon after an index reconstitution and/or index rebalance effective date, Nasdaq may decide to remove the index security from the Nasdaq-100 Index® in conjunction with the index reconstitution and/or index rebalance effective date.

Corporate Actions

In the periods between scheduled index reconstitution and rebalancing events, individual index securities may be subject to a variety of corporate actions and events that require maintenance and adjustments to the Nasdaq-100 Index®.

At the quarterly rebalancing, no changes are made to the Nasdaq-100 Index® from the previous month end until the quarterly share change effective date, with the exception of corporate actions with an ex-date.

Special Cash Dividends

A special cash dividend is a cash payment by the issuer of the index security to shareholders that the issuer does not consider to be part of its regular dividend paying cycle. A dividend is considered special in the Nasdaq-100 Index® if the information provided by the vendor or the index exchange indicates that the dividend is special. Other nomenclature for a special dividend may include but not be limited to extra, extraordinary, non-recurring, one-time, unusual, etc.

The start of day price of the index security is adjusted downward for the amount of the special cash dividend with no adjustment to the index shares resulting in a change to the divisor.

Return of Capital

A return of capital is a cash distribution paid from the company’s capital surplus rather than its net income or retained earnings. For the purposes of index calculation, Nasdaq will determine the treatment (regular vs. special)

PS-21


 

of each return of capital event based on whether the payment fits with the company’s regular pattern of dividend payments, or if the payment appears to be extraordinary in nature.

Liquidation Distributions

A liquidation distribution, sometimes referred to as a “liquidating dividend” is a cash distribution made by an issuer in conjunction with the dissolution of its business. Bankruptcy liquidations rarely result in liquidation payments to equity shareholders. Voluntary liquidations, on the other hand, will generally produce one or more liquidation payment events. For the purposes of index calculation, Nasdaq treats liquidation distributions in the same manner as special dividends.

Stock Split / Stock Dividend / Bonus Issue

A stock split, stock dividend and bonus issue are similar transactions which generally result in no change to the market capitalization of the security. They essentially imply the same event and the only difference is in the way the terms are quoted. A stock split or bonus issue is quoted in terms of shares received to shares held and stock dividends are quoted in percentages. This event increases the index shares of the index security based on an adjustment factor, while simultaneously reducing its per share price by applying a corresponding inverse adjustment factor, such that the weight of the index security remains similar before and after the event resulting in no change or a minimal change to the divisor.

Cash and Stock Dividend

An issuer of a security may pay a cash and stock dividend on the same security on the same date. In this case, the cash dividend is processed in the Nasdaq-100 Index® before the stock dividend unless otherwise indicated.

Optional Dividend

An issuer of a security may permit the shareholder to choose between receiving a dividend in cash or stock. In this case, the adjustment is made to the index security in the manner the dividend is announced.

Reverse Stock Split / Consolidation

A reverse split generally results in no change to the market capitalization of the security. Reverse splits are quoted in terms of shares received to shares held. This event decreases the number of index shares of the index security based on an adjustment factor while simultaneously increasing its per share price by applying a corresponding inverse adjustment factor, such that the weight of the index security remains similar before and after the event resulting in no change or a minimal change to the divisor.

Rights Offering / Issue

An issuer may offer to existing shareholders the right to participate in a new issuance of shares in proportion to each shareholder’s existing holdings of the security at a set price (the subscription price) during a subscription period. Shareholders are allotted rights in accordance with the ratio set by the company. The rights may trade for a certain period of time during the subscription period, allowing shareholders the opportunity to sell their rights in the market. Failure to subscribe to the rights prior to the end of the subscription period will result in their expiration and the shareholders forfeiture of the opportunity to purchase new shares under the rights issuance.

Renounceable rights offering: The rights issued to an existing shareholder are transferable in the open market and are able to be sold separately from the shares to other investors during the life of the right. Renounceable rights are referred to as “transferable” or “tradable”.

Non-renounceable rights offering: The rights issued to an existing shareholder cannot be traded. Shareholders must either subscribe to the rights or they lapse upon expiration of the subscription period.

Whether the rights offering is renounceable or non-renounceable, if the distribution is of the same index security, the price and index shares are adjusted if the rights have a subscription price on an equivalent per share basis that is less than its last sale price (in-the money) of the index security. The price is adjusted downward for the value of the right.

The index shares are increased to reflect the full exercise of the rights offering. The number of additional index shares is determined by multiplying the number of rights issued per index security by the current number of index shares, then dividing that product by the number of rights required to purchase one new index security. This results in a divisor adjustment.

If the rights have a subscription price on an equivalent per share basis that is greater than the last sale price (out of the money) of the index security on the day before the ex-distribution date, no adjustment will be made to the price or index shares of the index security, even if the offering is underwritten or otherwise guaranteed in some way. If

PS-22


 

the distribution is not available to all shareholders, then no adjustment is made to either the price or index shares of the index security.

Stock Distribution of Another Security

An issuer may distribute shares of a different class or class of shares of another existing company to shareholders of the index security.

The price of the index security will be adjusted downward to reflect the value of the distribution. The value of the distribution is calculated as the last sale price of the distributed security multiplied by the distribution ratio and no adjustment will be made to the index shares. This will result in a divisor adjustment.

Spin-offs

A spin-off or de-merger occurs when an issuer (the parent) “spins off” a business it owns into a separate new issuer (the spinco). The spinco takes assets, intellectual property, technology, and/or existing products from the parent and forms its own company. Shares of the spinco are distributed to the shareholders of the parent at a ratio established by the parent. It is expressed as the ratio of new shares in the spinco to the existing shares in the parent.

If the parent is an index security and there is a when-issued market for the spinco, the price of the parent is adjusted downward for the value of the spinco. The value of the spinco is calculated as the spin-off ratio multiplied by the when-issued last sale price of the spinco. There is no adjustment to the index shares of the parent. This will result in a divisor adjustment. The spinco is not added to the Nasdaq-100 Index®.

If there is no when-issued market for the spinco, then no price or index share adjustment is made to the index security. The spinco is not added to the Nasdaq-100 Index®.

Tracking Stocks

A separate line of stock which is issued for the purpose of “tracking” the financial performance of a particular business line, division or subsidiary of a company is often referred to as a “tracking stock.” The pro-rata distribution of a newly issued tracking stock to existing shareholders of the “parent” company is handled in accordance with the guidelines for spin-offs. A similar distribution of a pre-existing tracking stock is handled as a stock distribution of another security.

Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)

A merger/acquisition is the combination of two (or more) companies into one larger company, involving an exchange of stock and/or cash payment to the shareholders of the acquired company.

If the issuer of the index security is the company being acquired, the index security is removed the day following the shareholder vote or the expected expiration of the tender offer, provided the acquisition is not contested. In the event the acquisition is contested, the deletion occurs once results have been received that indicate the acquisition will likely be successful. If the approval is by written consent, then the removal occurs as soon as reasonably practical thereafter.

When the acquiring company is an index security, it may incur an increase in its index shares if the acquisition involves an exchange of stock as payment.

Additions / Deletions

The addition or deletion of a security will generally result in a divisor change. Index securities are added or removed from the Nasdaq-100 Index® at their last sale price on the day prior to the effective date of the change.

Halted Securities

If an index security, at the time of its removal from the Nasdaq-100 Index®, is halted from trading on its index exchange and its current last sale price cannot readily be determined, the index security may, at Nasdaq’s discretion, be removed at a price of 0.00000001 (“zero price”). This price is applied to the index security after the close of all the trading markets in the Nasdaq-100 Index® but prior to the time the official closing value of the Nasdaq-100 Index® is disseminated.

Index Share and TSO Changes

A security’s index shares may change as a result of events other than those corporate actions/events noted above. If a change in TSO arising from other corporate events is greater than or equal to 10%, an adjustment to index shares is made as soon as practicable after being sufficiently verified. If the change in TSO is less than 10%, then all such changes are accumulated and made effective at one time on a quarterly basis after the close of trading on

PS-23


 

the third Friday in each of March, June, September and December. The index shares are adjusted by the same percentage amount by which the TSO has changed.

Bankruptcy

In the event that an existing index constituent files for bankruptcy or equivalent protection from creditors, affected securities will be removed from their respective indexes, on a best-efforts basis, as soon as practicable after Nasdaq becomes aware of the filing.

If the index constituent is still available for trading on its primary exchange, it is removed from the Nasdaq-100 Index® at the security’s last trading price. If the security is no longer trading per its primary exchange, the constituent may be removed at an OTC price, if judged reliable. When no sufficiently reliable price exists, the security is removed at a price of zero.

Sanctions

Generally, Nasdaq Indices will approach the treatment of sanctions through the lens of United States, United Kingdom, and/or European Union based investors. Most sanctions can be thought of as being either comprehensive or selective:

Comprehensive sanctions programs are geographically oriented, and often apply broad-based financial restrictions on entire countries. Examples include Cuba, North Korea, Iran, and Syria. Companies in countries targeted by comprehensive sanctions are not eligible for inclusion in the Nasdaq-100 Index®.

Other sanctions programs are more selective, and target specific companies and individuals regardless of their locations. Nasdaq consults multiple sources in order to identify and interpret relevant sanctions on a best-efforts basis.

Because different sanctions programs include a variety of evolving restrictions and requirements, sanctions generally require a case-by-case review. Any resulting index adjustments, if necessary, will be made at the sole discretion of the Nasdaq Index Management Committee.

Other Adjustments

Nasdaq may make adjustments in circumstances other than those detailed in the index methodology, but not limited to adjustments necessary to ensure Nasdaq-100 Index® and/or market integrity. Nasdaq may exercise discretion or expert judgement (other than that which is purely mechanical and, where relevant, implemented in accordance with the index methodology) when the situation calls for the interpretation of data in calculating and maintaining the Nasdaq-100 Index®, including application of corporate actions. The use of expert judgement is overseen by the index governance process and mandates that the discretion or expert judgement would be exercised (i) in good faith and in a commercially reasonable manner and (ii) in such a manner as to ensure, as far as commercially reasonable, consistency in the approach it adopts with regard to the exercise of such discretion or expert judgement.

Index Governance

The Nasdaq Index Management Committee approves all new index methodologies. This committee is comprised of full-time professional members of Nasdaq. The committee meets regularly, and reviews items including, but not limited to, pending corporate actions that may affect index constituents, statistics comparing the composition of the indexes to the market, companies that are being considered as candidates for addition to an index, and any significant market events.

Discretionary Adjustment

The index methodology was created by Nasdaq to achieve the aforementioned objective of measuring the underlying purpose of the Nasdaq-100 Index®. Any deviations from the index methodology are made in the sole judgment and discretion of Nasdaq so that the Nasdaq-100 Index® continues to achieve its objective.

License Agreement between Nasdaq, Inc. and GS Finance Corp.

The Product(s) is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Nasdaq, Inc. or its affiliates (Nasdaq, with its affiliates, are referred to as the “Corporations”). The Corporations have not passed on the legality or suitability of, or the accuracy or adequacy of descriptions and disclosures relating to, the Product(s).  The Corporations make no representation or warranty, express or implied to the owners of the Product(s) or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in securities generally or in the Product(s) particularly, or the ability of the Nasdaq-100® Index to track general stock market performance.  The Corporations' only relationship to GS Finance Corp. (“Licensee”) is in the licensing of the Nasdaq®, Nasdaq-100 Index®, and certain trade names of the

PS-24


 

Corporations and the use of the Nasdaq-100 Index® which is determined, composed and calculated by Nasdaq without regard to Licensee or the Product(s).  Nasdaq has no obligation to take the needs of the Licensee or the owners of the Product(s) into consideration in determining, composing or calculating the Nasdaq-100 Index®.  The Corporations are not responsible for and have not participated in the determination of the timing of, prices at, or quantities of the Product(s) to be issued or in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the Product(s) is to be converted into cash.  The Corporations have no liability in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the Product(s).

The Corporations do not guarantee the accuracy and/or uninterrupted calculation of Nasdaq-100 Index® or any data included therein.  The Corporations make no warranty, express or implied, as to results to be obtained by Licensee, owners of the product(s), or any other person or entity from the use of the Nasdaq-100 Index® or any data included therein.  The Corporations make no express or implied warranties, and expressly disclaim all warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose or use with respect to the Nasdaq-100 Index® or any data included therein.  Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall the Corporations have any liability for any lost profits or special, incidental, punitive, indirect, or consequential damages, even if notified of the possibility of such damages.


PS-25


 

Historical Closing Levels of the Underlier

The closing level of the underlier has fluctuated in the past and may, in the future, experience significant fluctuations. In particular, the underlier has recently experienced extreme and unusual volatility. Any historical upward or downward trend in the closing level of the underlier during the period shown below is not an indication that the underlier is more or less likely to increase or decrease at any time during the life of your notes.

You should not take the historical levels of the underlier as an indication of the future performance of the underlier, including because of the recent volatility described above. We cannot give you any assurance that the future performance of the underlier or the underlier stocks will result in your receiving an amount greater than the outstanding face amount of your notes on the stated maturity date.

Neither we nor any of our affiliates make any representation to you as to the performance of the underlier. Before investing in the offered notes, you should consult publicly available information to determine the levels of the underlier between the date of this pricing supplement and the date of your purchase of the offered notes and, given the recent volatility described above, you should pay particular attention to recent levels of the underlier. The actual performance of the underlier over the life of the offered notes, as well as the cash settlement amount, may bear little relation to the historical closing levels shown below.

The graph below shows the daily historical closing levels of the underlier from January 1, 2015 through December 21, 2020. As a result, the following graph does not reflect the global financial crisis which began in 2008, which had a materially negative impact on the price of most equity securities and, as a result, the level of most equity ETFs. We obtained the closing levels in the graph below from Bloomberg Financial Services, without independent verification.

 

Historical Performance of the Invesco QQQ TrustSM, Series 1


PS-26


 

SUPPLEMENTAL DISCUSSION OF U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSEQUENCES

The following section supplements the discussion of U.S. federal income taxation in the accompanying prospectus supplement.

The following section is the opinion of Sidley Austin LLP, counsel to GS Finance Corp. and The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. In addition, it is the opinion of Sidley Austin LLP that the characterization of the notes for U.S. federal income tax purposes that will be required under the terms of the notes, as discussed below, is a reasonable interpretation of current law.

This section does not apply to you if you are a member of a class of holders subject to special rules, such as:

a dealer in securities or currencies;

a trader in securities that elects to use a mark-to-market method of accounting for your securities holdings;

a bank;

a life insurance company;

a regulated investment company;

an accrual method taxpayer subject to special tax accounting rules as a result of its use of financial statements;

a tax exempt organization;

a partnership;

a person that owns a note as a hedge or that is hedged against interest rate risks;

a person that owns a note as part of a straddle or conversion transaction for tax purposes; or

a United States holder (as defined below) whose functional currency for tax purposes is not the U.S. dollar.

Although this section is based on the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, its legislative history, existing and proposed regulations under the Internal Revenue Code, published rulings and court decisions, all as currently in effect, no statutory, judicial or administrative authority directly addresses how your notes should be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes, and as a result, the U.S. federal income tax consequences of your investment in your notes are uncertain. Moreover, these laws are subject to change, possibly on a retroactive basis.

 

You should consult your tax advisor concerning the U.S. federal income tax and any other applicable tax consequences of your investments in the notes, including the application of state, local or other tax laws and the possible effects of changes in federal or other tax laws.

United States Holders

This section applies to you only if you are a United States holder that holds your notes as a capital asset for tax purposes. You are a United States holder if you are a beneficial owner of each of your notes and you are:

a citizen or resident of the United States;

a domestic corporation;

an estate whose income is subject to U.S. federal income tax regardless of its source; or

a trust if a United States court can exercise primary supervision over the trust’s administration and one or more United States persons are authorized to control all substantial decisions of the trust.

Tax Treatment. You will be obligated pursuant to the terms of the notes – in the absence of a change in law, an administrative determination or a judicial ruling to the contrary – to characterize each note for all tax purposes as a pre-paid derivative contract in respect of the underlier. Except as otherwise stated below, the discussion herein assumes that the notes will be so treated.

Upon the sale, exchange or maturity of your notes, you should recognize capital gain or loss equal to the difference, if any, between the amount of cash you receive at such time and your tax basis in your notes. Your tax basis in the notes will generally be equal to the amount that you paid for the notes. If you hold your notes for more than one year, the gain or loss generally will be long-term capital gain or loss. If you hold your notes for one year or less, the gain or loss generally will be short-term capital gain or loss. Short-term capital gains are generally subject to tax at the marginal tax rates applicable to ordinary income.

In addition, the constructive ownership rules of Section 1260 of the Internal Revenue Code could possibly apply to your notes. If your notes were subject to the constructive ownership rules, then any long-term capital gain that you  realize upon the sale, exchange or maturity of your notes would be re-characterized as ordinary income (and you would be subject to an interest charge on deferred tax liability with respect to such re-characterized capital gain) to

PS-27


 

the extent that such capital gain exceeds the amount of “net underlying long-term capital gain” (as defined in Section 1260 of the Internal Revenue Code). Because the application of the constructive ownership rules is unclear you are strongly urged to consult your tax advisor with respect to the possible application of the constructive ownership rules to your investment in the notes.

No statutory, judicial or administrative authority directly discusses how your notes should be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes. As a result, the U.S. federal income tax consequences of your investment in the notes are uncertain and alternative characterizations are possible. Accordingly, we urge you to consult your tax advisor in determining the tax consequences of an investment in your notes in your particular circumstances, including the application of state, local or other tax laws and the possible effects of changes in federal or other tax laws.

Alternative Treatments. There is no judicial or administrative authority discussing how your notes should be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Therefore, the Internal Revenue Service might assert that a treatment other than that described above is more appropriate. For example, the Internal Revenue Service could treat your notes as a single debt instrument subject to special rules governing contingent payment debt instruments. Under those rules, the amount of interest you are required to take into account for each accrual period would be determined by constructing a projected payment schedule for the notes and applying rules similar to those for accruing original issue discount on a hypothetical noncontingent debt instrument with that projected payment schedule. This method is applied by first determining the comparable yield – i.e., the yield at which we would issue a noncontingent fixed rate debt instrument with terms and conditions similar to your notes – and then determining a payment schedule as of the issue date that would produce the comparable yield. These rules may have the effect of requiring you to include interest in income in respect of your notes prior to your receipt of cash attributable to that income.

If the rules governing contingent payment debt instruments apply, any gain you recognize upon the sale, exchange or maturity of your notes would be treated as ordinary interest income. Any loss you recognize at that time would be treated as ordinary loss to the extent of interest you included as income in the current or previous taxable years in respect of your notes, and, thereafter, as capital loss.

If the rules governing contingent payment debt instruments apply, special rules would apply to a person who purchases notes at a price other than the adjusted issue price as determined for tax purposes.

It is also possible that your notes could be treated in the manner described above, except that any gain or loss that you recognize at maturity would be treated as ordinary gain or loss. You should consult your tax advisor as to the tax consequences of such characterization and any possible alternative characterizations of your notes for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

It is possible that the Internal Revenue Service could seek to characterize your notes in a manner that results in tax consequences to you that are different from those described above. You should consult your tax advisor as to the tax consequences of any possible alternative characterizations of your notes for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

Possible Change in Law

On December 7, 2007, the Internal Revenue Service released a notice stating that the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department are actively considering issuing guidance regarding the proper U.S. federal income tax treatment of an instrument such as the offered notes, including whether the holders should be required to accrue ordinary income on a current basis and whether gain or loss should be ordinary or capital. It is not possible to determine what guidance they will ultimately issue, if any. It is possible, however, that under such guidance, holders of the notes will ultimately be required to accrue income currently and this could be applied on a retroactive basis. The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department are also considering other relevant issues, including whether foreign holders of such instruments should be subject to withholding tax on any deemed income accruals, and whether the special “constructive ownership rules” of Section 1260 of the Internal Revenue Code might be applied to such instruments. Except to the extent otherwise provided by law, we intend to continue treating the notes for U.S. federal income tax purposes in accordance with the treatment described above under “Tax Treatment” unless and until such time as Congress, the Treasury Department or the Internal Revenue Service determine that some other treatment is more appropriate.

Furthermore, in 2007, legislation was introduced in Congress that, if enacted, would have required holders that acquired instruments such as your notes after the bill was enacted to accrue interest income over the term of such instruments even though there will be no interest payments over the term of such instruments. It is not possible to predict whether a similar or identical bill will be enacted in the future, or whether any such bill would affect the tax treatment of your notes.

It is impossible to predict what any such legislation or administrative or regulatory guidance might provide, and whether the effective date of any legislation or guidance will affect notes that were issued before the date that such

PS-28


 

legislation or guidance is issued. You are urged to consult your tax advisor as to the possibility that any legislative or administrative action may adversely affect the tax treatment of your notes.

Backup Withholding and Information Reporting

You will be subject to generally applicable information reporting and backup withholding requirements as discussed in the accompanying prospectus under “United States Taxation — Taxation of Debt Securities — Backup Withholding and Information Reporting — United States Holders” with respect to payments on your notes and, notwithstanding that we do not intend to treat the notes as debt for tax purposes, we intend to backup withhold on such payments with respect to your notes unless you comply with the requirements necessary to avoid backup withholding on debt instruments (in which case you will not be subject to such backup withholding) as set forth under “United States Taxation — Taxation of Debt Securities — United States Holders” in the accompanying prospectus. Please see the discussion under “United States Taxation — Taxation of Debt Securities — Backup Withholding and Information Reporting—United States Holders” in the accompanying prospectus for a description of the applicability of the backup withholding and information reporting rules to payments made on your notes.

United States Alien Holders

This section applies to you only if you are a United States alien holder. You are a United States alien holder if you are the beneficial owner of notes and are, for U.S. federal income tax purposes:

a nonresident alien individual;

a foreign corporation; or

an estate or trust that in either case is not subject to U.S. federal income tax on a net income basis on income or gain from the notes.

You will be subject to generally applicable information reporting and backup withholding requirements as discussed in the accompanying prospectus under “United States Taxation — Taxation of Debt Securities — Backup Withholding and Information Reporting — United States Alien Holders” with respect to payments on your notes at maturity and, notwithstanding that we do not intend to treat the notes as debt for tax purposes, we intend to backup withhold on such payments with respect to your notes unless you comply with the requirements necessary to avoid backup withholding on debt instruments (in which case you will not be subject to such backup withholding) as set forth under “United States Taxation — Taxation of Debt Securities — United States Alien Holders” in the accompanying prospectus.

As discussed above, alternative characterizations of the notes for U.S. federal income tax purposes are possible. Should an alternative characterization of the notes, by reason of a change or clarification of the law, by regulation or otherwise, cause payments at maturity with respect to the notes to become subject to withholding tax, we will withhold tax at the applicable statutory rate and we will not make payments of any additional amounts. Prospective United States alien holders of the notes should consult their tax advisor in this regard.

Furthermore, on December 7, 2007, the Internal Revenue Service released Notice 2008-2 soliciting comments from the public on various issues, including whether instruments such as your notes should be subject to withholding. It is therefore possible that rules will be issued in the future, possibly with retroactive effect, that would cause payments on your notes at maturity to be subject to withholding, even if you comply with certification requirements as to your foreign status.

In addition, the Treasury Department has issued regulations under which amounts paid or deemed paid on certain financial instruments (“871(m) financial instruments”) that are treated as attributable to U.S.-source dividends could be treated, in whole or in part depending on the circumstances, as a “dividend equivalent” payment that is subject to tax at a rate of 30% (or a lower rate under an applicable treaty), which in the case of any amounts you receive upon the sale, exchange or maturity of your notes, could be collected via withholding. If these regulations were to apply to the notes, we may be required to withhold such taxes if any U.S.-source dividends are paid on the underlier during the term of the notes. We could also require you to make certifications (e.g., an applicable Internal Revenue Service Form W-8) prior to the maturity of the notes in order to avoid or minimize withholding obligations, and we could withhold accordingly (subject to your potential right to claim a refund from the Internal Revenue Service) if such certifications were not received or were not satisfactory. If withholding was required, we would not be required to pay any additional amounts with respect to amounts so withheld. These regulations generally will apply to 871(m) financial instruments (or a combination of financial instruments treated as having been entered into in connection with each other) issued (or significantly modified and treated as retired and reissued) on or after January 1, 2023, but will also apply to certain 871(m) financial instruments (or a combination of financial instruments treated as having been entered into in connection with each other) that have a delta (as defined in the applicable Treasury regulations) of one and are issued (or significantly modified and treated as retired and reissued) on or after January 1, 2017.  In addition, these regulations will not apply to financial instruments that reference a “qualified index” (as

PS-29


 

defined in the regulations).  We have determined that, as of the issue date of your notes, your notes will not be subject to withholding under these rules.  In certain limited circumstances, however, you should be aware that it is possible for United States alien holders to be liable for tax under these rules with respect to a combination of transactions treated as having been entered into in connection with each other even when no withholding is required.  You should consult your tax advisor concerning these regulations, subsequent official guidance and regarding any other possible alternative characterizations of your notes for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) Withholding

Pursuant to Treasury regulations, Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) withholding (as described in “United States Taxation—Taxation of Debt Securities—Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) Withholding” in the accompanying prospectus) will generally apply to obligations that are issued on or after July 1, 2014; therefore, the notes will generally be subject to the FATCA withholding rules.


PS-30


 

SUPPLEMENTAL PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION; CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

See “Supplemental Plan of Distribution” on page S-35 of the accompanying general terms supplement no. 8,671 and “Plan of Distribution — Conflicts of Interest” on page 125 of the accompanying prospectus. GS Finance Corp. estimates that its share of the total offering expenses, excluding underwriting discounts and commissions, will be approximately $      .

GS Finance Corp. will sell to GS&Co., and GS&Co. will purchase from GS Finance Corp., the aggregate face amount of the offered notes specified on the front cover of this pricing supplement.  GS&Co. proposes initially to offer the notes to the public at the original issue price set forth on the cover page of this pricing supplement, and to certain securities dealers at such price less a concession not in excess of        % of the face amount. The original issue price for notes purchased by certain retirement accounts and certain fee-based advisory accounts will be           % of the face amount of the notes, which will reduce the underwriting discount specified on the cover of this pricing supplement with respect to such notes to             %. GS&Co. is an affiliate of GS Finance Corp. and The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. and, as such, will have a “conflict of interest” in this offering of notes within the meaning of Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA) Rule 5121. Consequently, this offering of notes will be conducted in compliance with the provisions of FINRA Rule 5121. GS&Co. will not be permitted to sell notes in this offering to an account over which it exercises discretionary authority without the prior specific written approval of the account holder.

We have been advised that GS&Co. will also pay a fee in connection with the distribution of the notes to SIMON Markets LLC, a broker-dealer affiliated with GS Finance Corp.

We expect to deliver the notes against payment therefor in New York, New York on Janaury 29, 2021. Under Rule 15c6-1 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, trades in the secondary market generally are required to settle in two business days, unless the parties to any such trade expressly agree otherwise. Accordingly, purchasers who wish to trade notes on any date prior to two business days before delivery will be required to specify alternative settlement arrangements to prevent a failed settlement.

We have been advised by GS&Co. that it intends to make a market in the notes. However, neither GS&Co. nor any of our other affiliates that makes a market is obligated to do so and any of them may stop doing so at any time without notice. No assurance can be given as to the liquidity or trading market for the notes.

The notes will not be listed on any securities exchange or interdealer quotation system.

 

PS-31


 

 

We have not authorized anyone to provide any information or to make any representations other than those contained or incorporated by reference in this pricing supplement, the accompanying general terms supplement no. 8,671, the accompanying prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus. We take no responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you. This pricing supplement, the accompanying general terms supplement no. 8,671, the accompanying prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus is an offer to sell only the notes offered hereby, but only under circumstances and in jurisdictions where it is lawful to do so. The information contained in this pricing supplement, the accompanying general terms supplement no. 8,671, the accompanying prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus is current only as of the respective dates of such documents.

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Pricing Supplement

 

Page

Terms and Conditions

PS-3

Limited Events of Default

PS-6

Hypothetical Examples

PS-7

Additional Risk Factors Specific to Your Notes

PS-10

The Underlier

PS-16

Supplemental Discussion of U.S. Federal Income Tax Consequences

PS-27

Supplemental Plan of Distribution; Conflicts of Interest

PS-31

General Terms Supplement No. 8,671 dated July 1, 2020

Additional Risk Factors Specific to the Notes

S-4

Supplemental Terms of the Notes

S-13

Use of Proceeds

S-33

Hedging

S-33

Employee Retirement Income Security Act

S-34

Supplemental Plan of Distribution

S-35

     Conflicts of Interest

S-37

Prospectus Supplement dated July 1, 2020

Use of Proceeds

S-2

Description of Notes We May Offer

S-3

Considerations Relating to Indexed Notes

S-11

United States Taxation

S-14

Employee Retirement Income Security Act

S-15

Supplemental Plan of Distribution

S-16

Validity of the Notes and Guarantees

S-18

Prospectus dated July 1, 2020

Available Information

2

Prospectus Summary

4

Risks Relating to Regulatory Resolution Strategies and Long-Term Debt Requirements

9

Use of Proceeds

14

Description of Debt Securities We May Offer 

15

Description of Warrants We May Offer

71

Description of Units We May Offer

87

GS Finance Corp

92

Legal Ownership and Book-Entry Issuance

94

Considerations Relating to Indexed Securities

103

Considerations Relating to Securities Denominated or Payable in or Linked to a Non-U.S. Dollar Currency

104

United States Taxation

107

Plan of Distribution

122

Conflicts of Interest

125

Employee Retirement Income Security Act

126

Validity of the Securities and Guarantees

127

Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

127

Cautionary Statement Pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

128

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

$

 

 

GS Finance Corp.

 

 

Leveraged Buffered Invesco QQQ TrustSM, Series 1-Linked Notes due      

 

guaranteed by


The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

 

 


Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC

 

 

 

 

Categories

SEC Filings