Lloyd Blankfein

NEW YORK — Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein has started plans to retire and could do so as soon as the end of this year, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

However, Blankfein distanced himself from the Journal’s story, joking on Twitter, “I feel like Huck Finn listening to his own eulogy.”

Blankfein, 63, has run Goldman since 2006, and ran the New York firm through the housing market bubble and subsequent financial crisis. The firm also became a target of intense populist anger during the Great Recession. It emerged from the crisis transformed, focusing less on risky trading and is now exploring new businesses like consumer loans.

The two people considered as candidates to replace Blankfein are Harvey Schwartz and David Solomon, who share the position as chief operating officer, the Journal said, citing undisclosed sources. Both Schwartz and Solomon have been considered successors to Blankfein in the past in reports.

Discussions on whether Blankfein would step down heated up a few years ago when he was diagnosed with lymphoma. He successfully underwent radiation and chemotherapy and has publicly said he considers himself cured.