Goldman Sachs Asset Management Announces Changes to the Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta® World Low Vol Plus Equity ETF

Key Terms

unitary management fee financial

A unitary management fee is a single, all-inclusive charge that an investment manager takes to cover multiple services—such as portfolio management, administration and custody—rather than billing each service separately. Like a single monthly subscription that bundles streaming, phone and internet, it makes costs easier to understand and compare, but investors should watch the fee level because a higher bundled charge lowers net returns and can hide how much is paid for specific services.

underlying index financial

An underlying index is a composite measure—like a recipe or yardstick—made up of many stocks, bonds, or other assets that represents how a particular slice of the market is performing. Investors use it as the reference point for products such as exchange-traded funds, index funds, options, or structured notes, so the index’s composition and movements directly determine returns, risk exposure, and how well a product matches a desired strategy.

securities lending financial

Securities lending is when an owner of stocks or bonds temporarily loans them to another party, usually so the borrower can sell them short or meet settlement needs; the lender receives a fee and typically some form of security in return. Investors should care because lending can generate extra income on holdings and affects market liquidity and short-selling activity, much like renting out a spare room brings income while someone else uses the space.

american depositary receipts financial

A certificate traded on U.S. markets that represents ownership of shares in a foreign company, letting U.S. investors buy and sell that company as if it were listed domestically. Think of it as a local voucher for a foreign product: it makes price quotes in dollars, trades on familiar exchanges, and brings differences in liquidity, fees and legal protections that can affect returns and risk compared with buying the underlying foreign shares directly.

global depositary receipts financial

A global depositary receipt (GDR) is a tradable certificate issued by a bank that represents ownership of shares in a foreign company, allowing those shares to be bought and sold on different countries’ stock markets without dealing directly with the original market. For investors this acts like a local receipt for a foreign stock, making it easier to diversify internationally, manage currency and settlement differences, and access companies that would otherwise be hard to trade.

market capitalization-weighted index financial

A market capitalization-weighted index is a stock index that gives each company a size-based share of the index equal to its market value (share price multiplied by number of shares outstanding), so bigger companies move the index more than smaller ones. For investors it matters because such indexes reflect how the largest firms drive overall market returns and are commonly tracked by funds, meaning the performance and risk of index investments hinge on those dominant companies.

rules-based methodology technical

A rules-based methodology is a clear, written set of repeatable instructions for making decisions—such as which securities to buy, sell, or weight—based on predefined criteria. Like a recipe that anyone can follow, it removes guesswork and human judgment from the process, so investors can understand, back-test, and predict how a strategy should behave under different conditions. That clarity helps assess costs, risks, and whether a strategy fits an investment goal.

factor score technical

A factor score is a single number that rates how strongly a stock or portfolio matches a specific investment trait—such as value, momentum, profitability, or low volatility—similar to a report-card grade for that characteristic. Investors use these scores to compare and sort securities, build strategies, and balance risk and return; a higher score means the stock more closely displays the chosen trait, helping guide selection and portfolio mix decisions.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Goldman Sachs Asset Management, L.P., the investment adviser for the Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® World Low Vol Plus Equity ETF (the “Fund”), announced that the Fund’s Board of Trustees, at the recommendation of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, has approved changes to the Fund’s name, ticker, management fee and underlying index, together with related changes to the investment objective and principal investment strategy.

These changes will be effective after the close of business on February 4, 2026 (the “Effective Date”):

• New Fund Name: Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® World Equity ETF
• New Fund Ticker: GSWO (Cboe BZX)
• New Unitary Management Fee: 15 basis points
• New Underlying Index Name: Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® World Equity Index
• Updated Investment Objective:
  The Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® World Equity ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to provide investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® World Equity Index (the “Index”).
  
  
• Updated Principal Investment Strategies:
  The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing at least 80% of its assets (exclusive of collateral held from securities lending) in securities included in its underlying index, in depositary receipts representing securities included in its underlying index and in underlying stocks in respect of depositary receipts included in its underlying index. The Index is designed to deliver exposure to large- and mid-capitalization equity securities of developed market issuers, including the United States. The Index is constructed using the patented ActiveBeta^® Portfolio Construction Methodology, which was developed to provide exposure to the “factors” (or characteristics) that are commonly tied to a stock’s outperformance relative to market returns. These factors include value (i.e., how attractively a stock is priced relative to its “fundamentals,” such as book value and free cash flow), momentum (i.e., whether a company’s share price is trending up or down) and quality (i.e., profitability). Given the Fund’s investment objective of attempting to track its Index, the Fund does not follow traditional methods of active investment management, which may involve buying and selling securities based upon analysis of economic and market factors.
  
  Goldman Sachs Asset Management, L.P. (the “Index Provider”) constructs the Index in accordance with a rules-based methodology that involves two steps.
  
  Step 1
  In the first step, individual factor subindexes for value, momentum and quality (the “ActiveBeta^® Factor Subindexes”) are created from the constituents of the Solactive GBS Developed Markets Large & Mid Cap Index (the “Reference Index”), a market capitalization-weighted index.
  
  To construct each ActiveBeta^® Factor Subindex, all constituents in the Reference Index are assigned a “factor score” based on certain specified measurements (i.e., in the case of the value factor, the factor score is based on a composite of book value-to-price, sales-to-price and free cash flow-to-price). Securities with a factor score that is above a fixed “Cut-off Score” receive an overweight in the applicable ActiveBeta^® Factor Subindex relative to the Reference Index and securities with a factor score that is below the Cut-off Score receive an underweight in the applicable ActiveBeta^® Factor Subindex relative to the Reference Index. Accordingly, the magnitude of overweight or underweight that a security receives in constructing the applicable ActiveBeta^® Factor Subindex is determined by its attractiveness when evaluated based on the relevant factor score. The Index only includes long positions (i.e., short positions are impermissible), so the smallest weight for any given security is zero.
  
  Step 2
  In the second step, the ActiveBeta^® Factor Subindexes are combined in equal weights to form the Index.
  
  The Index is rebalanced on a quarterly basis in accordance with the published rebalancing schedule of the Reference Index.
  
  As of December 1, 2025, the Index consisted of 789 securities with a market capitalization range of between approximately $2.4 billion and $4.4 trillion in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. The components of the Index may change over time. The percentage of the portfolio exposed to any asset class, country or geographic region will vary from time to time as the weightings of the securities within the Index change, and the Fund may not be invested in each asset class, country or geographic region at all times. The Index Provider determines whether an issuer is located in a particular country by reference to the Reference Index methodology. Solactive AG, which constructs the Reference Index, will generally deem an issuer to be located in a particular country if it is organized under the laws of the particular country and it is primarily listed in the particular country; in the event that these factors point to more than one country, the Reference Index methodology provides for consideration of the issuer’s country of domicile and country of risk.
  
  The Index is comprised of equity securities, including American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”) and Global Depositary Receipts (“GDRs”). The Fund seeks to invest in the Index components in approximately the same weighting that such components have within the Index at the applicable time. The Fund may purchase a sample of securities in its Index. There may also be instances in which the Investment Adviser may choose to underweight or overweight a security in the Fund’s Index, purchase securities not in the Fund’s Index that the Investment Adviser believes are appropriate to substitute for certain securities in such Index or utilize various combinations of other available investment techniques.
  The Fund may concentrate its investments (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to the extent that its Index is concentrated. The degree to which components of the Index represent certain sectors or industries may change over time.

The Prospectus, Summary Prospectus and SAI currently reflect the forthcoming changes to the Fund, although the Fund’s current name, management fee rate, underlying index, ticker symbol, investment objective and principal investment strategy will remain in place until the Effective Date.

About Goldman Sachs Asset Management
Goldman Sachs Asset Management is the primary investing area within Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), delivering investment and advisory services across public and private markets for the world’s leading institutions, financial advisors and individuals. The business is driven by a focus on partnership and shared success with its clients, seeking to deliver long-term investment performance drawing on its global network and deep expertise across industries and markets. Goldman Sachs Asset Management is a leading investor across fixed income, liquidity, equity, alternatives, and multi-asset solutions. Goldman Sachs oversees approximately $3.6 trillion in assets under supervision as of December 31, 2025. Follow us on LinkedIn.

The Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® World Equity ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to provide investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® World Equity Index (the “Index”), which delivers exposure to large- and mid-capitalization equity securities of developed market issuers, including the United States. The Fund’s investments are subject to market risk, which means that the value of the securities in which it invests may go up or down in response to the prospects of individual companies, particular sectors or governments and/or general economic conditions. Foreign investments may be more volatile and less liquid than investments in U.S. securities and are subject to the risks of currency fluctuations and adverse social, economic or political developments. Because the Fund may concentrate its investments in an industry or group of industries to the extent that the Index is concentrated, the Fund may be subject to greater risk of loss as a result of adverse economic, business or other developments affecting that industry or group of industries. The securities of mid-capitalization companies involve greater risks than those associated with larger, more established companies and may be subject to more abrupt or erratic price movements. The Fund is not actively managed, and therefore the Fund will not generally dispose of a security unless the security is removed from the Index. The Index calculation methodology may rely on information based on assumptions and estimates and neither the Fund, the index provider nor the investment adviser can guarantee the accuracy of the methodology’s valuation of securities or the availability or timeliness of the production of the Index. Performance may vary substantially from the performance of the Index as a result of transaction costs, expenses and other factors.

Fund shares are not individually redeemable and are issued and redeemed by a Fund at their net asset value (“NAV”) only in large, specified blocks of shares called creation units. Shares otherwise can be bought and sold only through exchange trading at market price (not NAV). Shares may trade at a premium or discount to their NAV in the secondary market. Brokerage commissions will reduce returns.

A summary prospectus, if available, or a Prospectus for each Fund containing more information may be obtained from your authorized dealer or from Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC by calling 1-800-621-2550. Please consider a Fund's objectives, risks, and charges and expenses, and read the summary prospectus, if available, and the Prospectus carefully before investing. The summary prospectus, if available, and the Prospectus contains this and other information about the Funds.

The Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “Act”) imposes certain limits on investment companies purchasing or acquiring any security issued by another registered investment company. For these purposes the definition of “investment company” includes funds that are unregistered because they are excepted from the definition of investment company by sections 3(c)(1) and 3(c)(7) of the Act. You should consult your legal counsel for more information.

Goldman Sachs does not provide accounting, tax or legal advice.

GOLDMAN SACHS (“GS”) DOES NOT MAKE GUARANTEES, REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES REGARDING THE ADVISABILITY OF INVESTING IN SECURITIES, THE FUND, THE ABILITY OF THE INDEX TO TRACK GENERAL MARKET PERFORMANCE, THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE INDEX OR ANY DATA RELATED THERETO. GS LICENSES CERTAIN TRADEMARKS AND TRADE NAMES TO THE FUND AND HAS NO OBLIGATION TO TAKE FUND OR SHAREHOLDER NEEDS INTO CONSIDERATION IN DETERMINING, COMPOSING OR CALCULATING THE INDEX. GS DISCLAIMS LIABILITY FOR ANY ERRORS OR INTERRUPTIONS IN THE CALCULATION OF THE INDEX AND MAKES NO WARRANTY RELATED TO MARKS, THE INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. PLEASE REFER TO THE PROSPECTUS FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.

Under the management agreement for the Fund, the Investment Adviser will be responsible for substantially all the expenses of the Fund, excluding payments under the Fund’s 12b-1 plan (if any), interest expenses, taxes, acquired fund fees and expenses, brokerage fees, costs of holding shareholder meetings, litigation, indemnification and extraordinary expenses. Please refer to the Fund’s prospectus for the most recent expenses.

ActiveBeta^® is a registered trademark of Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

ALPS Distributors, Inc. is the distributor of the Goldman Sachs ETF Funds. ALPS Distributors, Inc. is unaffiliated with Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

© 2026 Goldman Sachs All rights reserved

NOT FDIC INSURED. MAY LOSE VALUE. NO BANK GUARANTEE. NOT INSURED BY ANY GOVERNMENT AGENCY.

ALPS Control: GST3487

Compliance Code: 487527

Date of first use: 1/30/2026

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Source: Goldman Sachs Asset Management, L.P.