Subject to Completion. Dated April 21, 2025.

GS Finance Corp.

$

Autocallable Contingent Coupon Equity-Linked Notes due 2028

guaranteed by

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

Key Terms

Company (Issuer) / Guarantor:

GS Finance Corp. / The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

Aggregate face amount:

$

Cash settlement amount:

subject to the automatic call feature, on the stated maturity date, in addition to any coupon then due, the company will pay, for each $1,000 face amount of the notes, an amount in cash equal to:

$1,000 + ($1,000 × the underlier return)

Underlier:

the common stock of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (current Bloomberg ticker: “UNH UN”)

Coupon trigger level:

65% of the initial underlier level

Trigger buffer level:

65% of the initial underlier level

Initial underlier level:

set on the trade date and will be an intra-day level or the closing level of the underlier on the trade date

Final underlier level:

the closing level of the underlier on the determination date*

Underlier return:

(the final underlier level - the initial underlier level) ÷ the initial underlier level

Calculation agent:

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC (“GS&Co.”)

CUSIP / ISIN:

40058HRB7 / US40058HRB77

Our estimated value of the notes on trade date / Additional amount / Additional amount end date:

$925 to $955 per $1,000 face amount, which is less than the original issue price. The additional amount is $ and the additional amount end date is . See “The Estimated Value of Your Notes At the Time the Terms of Your Notes Are Set On the Trade Date Is Less Than the Original Issue Price Of Your Notes.”

Original issue price

Underwriting discount

Net proceeds to the issuer

100% of the face amount

         % of the face amount

         % of the face amount

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC

Key Terms (continued)

Coupon:

subject to the automatic call feature, on each coupon payment date, the company will pay, for each $1,000 of the outstanding face amount, an amount in cash equal to:

Automatic call feature:

The notes will be automatically called if the closing level of the underlier is greater than or equal to the initial underlier level on any call observation date. In that case, the company will pay, for each $1,000 of the outstanding face amount, an amount in cash on the following call payment date equal to $1,000 (along with the coupon then due).

Trade date:

April 28, 2025

Original issue date:

April 30, 2025

Determination date:

the last coupon observation date, April 28, 2028*

Stated maturity date:

May 3, 2028*

Call observation dates:

each coupon observation date commencing in October 2025 and ending in January 2028

Call payment dates:

the coupon payment date immediately after the applicable call observation date

Coupon observation dates*

Coupon payment dates*

July 28, 2025

July 31, 2025

October 28, 2025

October 31, 2025

January 28, 2026

February 2, 2026

April 28, 2026

May 1, 2026

July 28, 2026

July 31, 2026

October 28, 2026

November 2, 2026

January 28, 2027

February 2, 2027

April 28, 2027

May 3, 2027

July 28, 2027

August 2, 2027

October 28, 2027

November 2, 2027

January 28, 2028

February 2, 2028

April 28, 2028

May 3, 2028

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.

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:

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 have not authorized anyone to provide any information or to make any representations other than those contained in or incorporated by reference in this pricing supplement and the accompanying documents listed above. We take no responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may provide. This pricing supplement and the accompanying documents listed above are 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 and the accompanying documents listed above is current only as of the respective dates of such documents.

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 master note no. 3, dated March 22, 2021.

HYPOTHETICAL EXAMPLES

The following examples are provided for purposes of illustration only. The examples should not be taken as an indication or prediction of future investment results and merely are intended to illustrate (i) the impact that the various hypothetical closing levels of the underlier on a coupon observation date could have on the coupon payable, if any, on the related coupon payment date and (ii) the impact that the various hypothetical closing levels of the underlier on the determination date could have on the cash settlement amount at maturity assuming all other variables remain constant and are not intended to predict the closing levels of the underlier.

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 a call payment date or the stated maturity date. If you sell your notes in a secondary market prior to a call payment date or the stated maturity date, as the case may be, 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. The information in the examples also reflects the key terms and assumptions in the box below.

Key Terms and Assumptions

Face amount

$1,000

Coupon

(i) the product of $23.75 times the number of coupon observation dates that have occurred up to and including such related coupon observation date minus (ii) the sum of all coupons previously paid, if any

Coupon trigger level

65% of the initial underlier level

Trigger buffer level

65% of the initial underlier level

The notes are not automatically called, unless otherwise indicated below

Neither a market disruption event nor a non-trading day occurs on any originally scheduled coupon observation date or call observation date or the originally scheduled determination date

No change in or affecting the underlier

Notes purchased on original issue date at the face amount and held to a call payment date or the stated maturity date

For these reasons, the actual performance of the underlier over the life of your notes, the actual underlier level on any call observation date or coupon observation date, as well as the coupon payable, if any, on each coupon payment date, may bear little relation to the hypothetical examples shown below or to the historical underlier levels shown elsewhere in this pricing supplement.

Also, the hypothetical examples shown below do not take into account the effects of applicable taxes.

Hypothetical Coupon Payments

The examples below show the hypothetical coupon, if any, that we would pay on each coupon payment date with respect to each $1,000 face amount of the notes if the hypothetical closing level of the underlier on the applicable coupon observation date was the percentage of the initial underlier level shown.

Coupon Observation Date

Hypothetical Closing Level of the Underlier (as Percentage of Initial Underlier Level)

Hypothetical Coupon

1

55.000%

$0.000

2

75.000%

$47.500

3

55.000%

$0.000

4

45.000%

$0.000

5

45.000%

$0.000

6

75.000%

$95.000

7

45.000%

$0.000

8

35.000%

$0.000

9

45.000%

$0.000

10

55.000%

$0.000

11

35.000%

$0.000

12

55.000%

$0.000

Total Hypothetical

Coupons

$142.500

In Scenario 1, the hypothetical closing level of the underlier has decreased relative to the initial underlier level on each hypothetical coupon observation date. On the coupon payment dates relating to coupon observation dates on which the hypothetical closing level of the underlier is greater than or equal to the coupon trigger level, you will receive a coupon payment. However, on the coupon payment dates relating to coupon observation dates on which the hypothetical closing level of the underlier is less than the coupon trigger level, you will not receive a coupon payment.

Coupon Observation Date

Hypothetical Closing Level of the Underlier (as Percentage of Initial Underlier Level)

Hypothetical Coupon

1

55.000%

$0.000

2

45.000%

$0.000

3

55.000%

$0.000

4

55.000%

$0.000

5

55.000%

$0.000

6

55.000%

$0.000

7

45.000%

$0.000

8

35.000%

$0.000

9

45.000%

$0.000

10

55.000%

$0.000

11

35.000%

$0.000

12

55.000%

$0.000

Total Hypothetical

Coupons

$0.000

In Scenario 2, the hypothetical closing level of the underlier has decreased relative to the initial underlier level on each hypothetical coupon observation date. You will not receive a coupon payment on any coupon payment date because in each case the hypothetical closing level of the underlier on the related coupon observation date is less than the coupon trigger level. The overall return you earn on your notes will be less than zero.

Coupon Observation Date

Hypothetical Closing Level of the Underlier (as Percentage of Initial Underlier Level)

Hypothetical Coupon

1

55.000%

$0.000

2

110.000%

$47.500

Total Hypothetical

Coupons

$47.500

In Scenario 3, the hypothetical closing level of the underlier is less than the coupon trigger level on the first hypothetical coupon observation date, but increases to a level that is greater than the initial underlier level on the second hypothetical coupon observation date. Because the hypothetical closing level of the underlier is greater than or equal to the initial underlier level on the second hypothetical coupon observation date (which is also the first hypothetical call observation date), your notes will be automatically called. Therefore, on the corresponding hypothetical call payment date, in addition to the coupon payment, you will receive an amount in cash equal to $1,000 for each $1,000 face amount of your notes.

Hypothetical Payment at Maturity

If the notes are not automatically called on any call observation date, the cash settlement amount that we would deliver for each $1,000 face amount of your notes on the stated maturity date will depend on the performance of the underlier on the determination date, as shown in the table below. The table below assumes that the notes have not been automatically called on a call observation date and does not include the final coupon, if any. If the final underlier level is less than the coupon trigger level, you will not be paid a final coupon at maturity.

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 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 the Initial Underlier Level)

Hypothetical Cash Settlement Amount

(as Percentage of Face Amount)

200.000%

100.000%*

175.000%

100.000%*

150.000%

100.000%*

125.000%

100.000%*

100.000%

100.000%*

82.000%

100.000%*

65.000%

100.000%*

64.999%

64.999%

50.000%

50.000%

25.000%

25.000%

12.500%

12.500%

0.000%

0.000%

As shown in the table above, if the notes have not been automatically called on a call observation date:

An investment in your notes is subject to the risks summarized below. These risks, as well as other risks and considerations, are explained in more detail in the accompanying documents listed above under “About Your Prospectus”. You should carefully review these risks and considerations as well as the terms of the notes described herein and in such accompanying documents. Your notes are a riskier investment than ordinary debt securities. Also, your notes are not equivalent to investing directly in the underlier. You should carefully consider whether the offered notes are appropriate given your particular circumstances.

Risks Related to Structure, Valuation and Secondary Market Sales

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. 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 set forth on the cover of this pricing supplement) will decline to zero on a straight line basis over the period from the date hereof through the additional amount end date set forth on the cover of this pricing supplement. 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, 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 — Your Notes May Not Have an Active Trading Market” in the accompanying general terms supplement.

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

Investors are dependent on our ability and the ability of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., as guarantor of the notes, to pay all amounts due on the notes. Therefore, investors are subject to the credit risk, and to changes in the market’s view of the creditworthiness, of the issuer and the guarantor. See “Description of the Notes We May Offer — Information About Our Medium-Term Notes, Series F Program — How the Notes Rank Against Other Debt” in the accompanying prospectus supplement and “Description of Debt Securities We May Offer — Guarantee by The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.” in the accompanying prospectus.

You May Lose Your Entire Investment

Assuming your notes are not automatically called, if the final underlier level is less than the trigger buffer level, you will have a loss for each $1,000 of the face amount of your notes equal to the product of the underlier return times $1,000. Thus, you may lose your entire 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 a call payment date or the stated maturity date, as the case may be, 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 Return on Your Notes May Change Significantly Despite Only a Small Change in the Level of the Underlier

While a decrease in the final underlier level to the trigger buffer level will not result in a loss of principal on the notes, a decrease in the final underlier level to less than the trigger buffer level will result in a loss of a significant portion of the face amount of the notes despite only a small change in the level of the underlier.

You May Not Receive a Coupon on Any Coupon Payment Date

If the closing level of the underlier on the related coupon observation date is less than the coupon trigger level, you will not receive a coupon payment on the applicable coupon payment date. If this occurs on every coupon observation date, the overall return you earn on your notes will be less than zero and will be less than you would have earned by investing in a note that bears interest at the prevailing market rate.

You should be aware that, with respect to any prior coupon observation dates that did not result in the payment of a coupon, you will not be compensated for any opportunity cost implied by inflation and other factors relating to the time value of money.

Your Notes Are Subject to Automatic Redemption

We will automatically call and redeem all, but not part, of your notes on a call payment date if, as measured on any call observation date, the closing level of the underlier is greater than or equal to the initial underlier level. Therefore, the term for your notes may be significantly reduced. You may not be able to reinvest the proceeds from an investment in the notes at a comparable return for a similar level of risk in the event the notes are automatically called prior to maturity. For the avoidance of doubt, if your notes are automatically called, no discounts, commissions or fees described herein will be rebated or reduced.

The Coupon Does Not Reflect the Actual Performance of the Underlier from the Trade Date to Any Coupon Observation Date or from Coupon Observation Date to Coupon Observation Date

The coupon for each coupon payment date is different from, and may be less than, a coupon determined based on the percentage difference of the closing level of the underlier between the trade date and any coupon observation date or between two coupon observation dates.

We Will Not Hold Shares of the Underlier for Your Benefit

The indenture governing your note does not contain any restriction on our ability or the ability of any of our affiliates to sell, pledge or otherwise convey any shares of the underlier acquired by us or them. Neither we nor our affiliates will pledge or otherwise hold shares of the underlier for your benefit in order to enable you to exchange your note for shares under any circumstances. Consequently, in the event of our bankruptcy, insolvency or liquidation, any shares of the underlier owned by us will be subject to the claims of our creditors generally and will not be available for your benefit specifically.

You Have No Shareholder Rights or Rights to Receive the Underlier

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

In Some Circumstances, the Payment You Receive On the Notes May Be Based On the Securities of Another Company and Not the Issuer of the Underlier

Following certain corporate events relating to the underlier where its issuer is not the surviving entity, the amount you receive at maturity may be based on the securities of a successor to such underlier issuer or any cash or any other assets distributed to holders of shares of such underlier in such corporate event. The occurrence of these corporate events and the consequent adjustments may materially and adversely affect the value of the notes. We describe the specific corporate events that can lead to these adjustments and the procedures for selecting distribution property under “Supplemental Terms of the Notes - Anti-dilution Adjustments for Index Stocks” in the accompanying general terms supplement.

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:

Without limiting the foregoing, the market value of your notes may be negatively impacted by increasing interest rates. Such adverse impact of increasing interest rates could be significantly enhanced in notes with longer-dated maturities, the market values of which are generally more sensitive to increasing interest rates.

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.

There is No Affiliation Between the Underlier Issuer and Us

Goldman Sachs is not affiliated with the underlier issuer. However, we or our affiliates may currently or from time to time in the future engage in business with the underlier issuer. Neither we nor any of our affiliates have participated in the preparation of any publicly available information or made any “due diligence” investigation or inquiry with respect to the underlier issuer. You, as an investor in your notes, should make your own investigation into the underlier issuer.

The underlier issuer is not involved in this offering of notes in any way and does not have any obligation of any sort with respect to your notes. Thus, the underlier issuer does not have any obligation to take your interests into consideration for any reason, including in taking or not taking any corporate actions that might affect the value of your notes.

Risks Related to Tax

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 of income in respect of your notes.

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.

Where Information About the Underlier Issuer Can Be Obtained

The underlier is registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Companies with securities registered under the Exchange Act are required to file financial and other information specified by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) periodically. Information filed by the underlier issuer with the SEC electronically can be reviewed through a web site maintained by the SEC. The address of the SEC’s web site is sec.gov.

Information about the underlier issuer may also be obtained from other sources such as press releases, newspaper articles and other publicly available documents.

We do not make any representation or warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of any materials referred to above, including any filings made by the underlier issuer with the SEC.

We Obtained the Information About the Underlier Issuer From the Underlier Issuer's Public Filings

This pricing supplement relates only to your notes and does not relate to the underlier or other securities of the underlier issuer. We have derived all information about the underlier issuer in this pricing supplement from the publicly available information referred to in the preceding subsection. We have not participated in the preparation of any of those documents or made any “due diligence” investigation or inquiry with respect to the underlier issuer in connection with the offering of your notes. Furthermore, we do not know whether all events occurring on or before the date of this pricing supplement — including events that would affect the accuracy or completeness of the publicly available documents referred to above and the trading price of shares of the underlier — have been publicly disclosed. Subsequent disclosure of any events of this kind or the disclosure of or failure to disclose material future events concerning the underlier issuer could affect the value you will receive at maturity and, therefore, the market value of your notes.

Neither we nor any of our affiliates make any representation to you as to the performance of the underlier.

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.

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. You should not take the historical levels of the underlier as an indication of the future performance of the underlier.

The graph below shows the daily historical closing levels of the underlier from January 2, 2020 through April 17, 2025, adjusted for corporate events, if applicable. We obtained the closing levels in the graph below from Bloomberg Financial Services, without independent verification.

According to publicly available information, UnitedHealth Group Incorporated is a health care and well-being company. Information filed with the SEC by the underlier issuer under the Exchange Act can be located by referencing its SEC file number 001-10864.

SUPPLEMENTAL DISCUSSION OF U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSEQUENCES

No statutory, judicial or administrative authority directly addresses how your notes should be characterized and treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes. As a result, the U.S. federal income tax consequences of your investment in your notes are uncertain. The following section is the opinion of Sidley Austin LLP, counsel to GS Finance Corp. and The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. 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 an income-bearing pre-paid derivative contract in respect of the underlier, as described under “Supplemental Discussion of U.S. Federal Income Tax Consequences” in the accompanying general terms supplement. Pursuant to this approach, it is the opinion of Sidley Austin LLP that it is likely that coupon payments will be taxed as ordinary income in accordance with your regular method of accounting for U.S. federal income tax purposes. If you are a non-United States holder of the notes, we intend to withhold on coupon payments made to you at a 30% rate or at a lower rate specified by an applicable income tax treaty. In addition, upon the sale, exchange, redemption or maturity of your notes, it would be reasonable for you to recognize capital gain or loss equal to the difference, if any, between the amount of cash you receive at such time (excluding any amounts attributable to accrued and unpaid coupon payments, which will be taxable as described above) and your tax basis in your notes.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, since the appropriate U.S. federal income tax characterization and treatment of your notes are uncertain, it is possible that the Internal Revenue Service could assert a different characterization and treatment than that described immediately above. In this case, the timing and character of income, gain or loss recognized with respect to your notes could substantially differ from that described above.

In addition, we have determined that, as of the issue date of the notes, the notes will not be subject to dividend equivalent withholding under section 871(m) of the Internal Revenue Code (the “871 withholding rules”). In certain circumstances, however, it is possible for non-United States holders to be liable for tax under the 871 withholding rules with respect to a combination of transactions entered into in connection with each other even when no withholding is required. Non-United States holders should consult their tax advisors concerning the potential application of the 871 withholding rules to an investment in the notes.

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.

SUPPLEMENTAL PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION; CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

See “Supplemental Plan of Distribution” in the accompanying general terms supplement and “Plan of Distribution — Conflicts of Interest” in the accompanying prospectus.

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. 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 to iCapital Markets LLC, a broker-dealer in which an affiliate of GS Finance Corp. holds an indirect minority equity interest, for services it is providing in connection with this offering.

We will deliver the notes against payment therefor in New York, New York on the original issue date set forth on the cover page of this pricing supplement. Under Rule 15c6-1 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, trades in the secondary market generally are required to settle in one business day, unless the parties to any such trade expressly agree otherwise. Accordingly, purchasers who wish to trade notes on any date prior to one business day 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.