Jamie Dimon is the boss of JPMorgan Chase. He took charge at the start of 2006. He is a vocal critic of remote work, complaining in leaked comments from a 2025 meeting: "I've had it with this...I've been working seven days a goddamn week since covid and I come in and--where's everybody else?"
Under Dimon, JPMorgan's share of market capitalisation among America's big banks has risen from 12% to 30%. He will celebrate his 70th birthday on March 13th 2026. He says that in the next few years he will step down but remain the company's chairman, and refuses to provide a firmer timeline. During his tenure, more than a dozen supposed succession candidates have come and gone.
Dimon was credited with softening President Donald Trump's tariffs. Trump himself said he changed his mind after watching an interview with Dimon on Fox News, during which JPMorgan's boss said a recession was likely because of the wave of protectionism. "He's a genius financially, he's done a fantastic job at the bank," the president said. Few people are recognisable by their first name on both Wall Street and Capitol Hill.
Dimon oversaw JPMorgan's purchases of Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual during the 2008 financial crisis, and the acquisition of First Republic in 2023. Of First Republic he said: "We did it because the government needed it. But we have to make it financially attractive to ourselves, obviously."
In late January 2026 Dimon forecast that JPMorgan Chase would soon need fewer employees as a result of AI. He also said governments should ban lay-offs if it "saves society".
Dimon recalls advising Charlie Scharf, formerly head of JPMorgan's retail bank, when Scharf left to run Visa: two things change when an executive takes a top job. "The first one is there is nobody to complain to." Second, a chief executive can no longer rely on a backstop from a higher power. "There is no tacit approval. It is your decision."
I am a friend of the working man, and I would rather be his friend than be one.