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Goldman and Morgan Stanley set to wield the jobs axe again
Hugo Duncan30 Jan 2009
Wall Street giants Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were today looking at further job cuts — putting the future of hundreds of bankers in London at risk.
Goldman, which has already cut 10% of its 32,000 global workforce including 600 of the 6000 based in the City, is considering another cull as it battles its way through the global financial crisis, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The report also said Morgan Stanley may decide on another round of job cuts, laying off up to 5% of its 47,000 employees as markets continue to fall and investment banking and trading businesses remain sluggish. The bank showed 7000 staff the door last year, including more than 500 at its UK headquarters in Canary Wharf.
Both banks refused to comment.
Thousands of jobs have already been lost in London as a result of the crisis crippling financial markets and the billions of pounds lost in the credit crunch.
Bank share prices have crashed although Goldman and Morgan Stanley have bounced off their late-2008 lows, thanks to support from the US government. Both banks gave up their status as investment banks last year so they could take advantage of emergency federal funding if needed.
The job cuts at Morgan Stanley, yet to be finalised, are likely to affect back-office and support staff including those in technology, infrastructure and human resources. There could also be cuts in riskier trading businesses.
Goldman has also yet to finalise its latest round of blood-letting, with numbers and details said to depend on market conditions.
The prospect of another cull at Goldman will send shock waves through the City and Wall Street. The bank, founded in New York in 1869, for years saw itself as immune from the problems that afflicted other investment banks. However, it has been unable to escape the carnage of the past 18 months.
Reader views (13)
Irene, Hong Kong and Nick, London what you dont seem to get is that an industry that sucks like parasites the wealth actually created by other industries and then hands it out to their so called 'best and brightest'(read perhaps willing to do anything for a buck regardless) to spend like there is no tommorow does not help society in general at all. It is wealth redistribution, not wealth creation.
- Ryan, London, UK, 06/04/2009 11:29
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Goldman Sachs terminated me and I was happy to go.
God save the Queen.
TS
- Tyrone Slothrop, New York, New York, USA, 31/01/2009 05:26
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Agree with Nicky Brown totally. Ironically, MS let go of a lot of the old timers who actually got things done in supporting the infrastructure etc (and of course they were more expensive). Package in general was decent so it was better to take the rest of the year off than slaving away 24x7 with only a donut bonus to look forward to. Quite a few of them have found employment elsewhere by now. Now what sense does this make?? They continue to recruit though - consider the cost of redundancy and recruitment
- CW, london, 31/01/2009 03:17
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Nick, London - Surely we would all have been better off had these banksters never claimed the false profits for which they paid these taxes in the first place.
- Jason, NY, 30/01/2009 23:02
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Guys, as many have pointed before on these kind of posts a high percentage of the redundancies these 2 companies are making are ordinary guys and girls working in the background who have families to support and mortgages and bills to pay. Not the FatCat Bankers who you all keep blaming!! They remain in their jobs as they are the ones who make the BIG Money these banks need to survive in their business!! I work for one of the 2 banks mentioned and have lost a lot of workmates to redundancy in the last 6 months and it's not a nice situation to be in for any of them!! And yes i work in the background too and have been lucky for now.
As for Pablo and Bobby if you guys have nothing constructive to say on these boards then maybe you should not bother as you have no idea.....no idea at all!!
- Dave, London, 30/01/2009 21:52
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Well I was one of the ones put at risk in the last round of cuts at Morgan Stanley. My redundancy will come through in the next few weeks.
I most certainly wish that I was earning the sort of bonuses that you are pointing at Pablo. Don't forget the average bonus is skewed massively by the few that earn a large bonus.
I am hoping to get a new job very soon as the mortgage doesn't pay itself, my young twins need feeding, and I am not going to go on benefits.
- Ian, Southampton, England, 30/01/2009 16:44
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It's difficult to have sympathy for those from the industry who have been making huge sums (from the rest of us) for years on end - but it's important to remember that banks, regardless of size and type, also employ 'people' - on ordinary salaries - and it is often they who lose their jobs first. Feel for them, but those whose annual salaries are in excess of £2m? Well, one feels sure that they won't be going hungry any time soon, redundant or not.
- Paul, Boston, UK, 30/01/2009 15:41
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Are you guys nuts?
If these people stop buying, it means the shops are selling less which means the plants/logistics cos etc will produce less which means there will be less jobs and money for u!! Not to mention construction cos, apartments for rents, restaurants etc etc. And- taxes!! Goodness, how can you be so short sighted
- Irene, Hong Kong, 30/01/2009 14:59
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Warren Buffet is running Goldan Sachs and that is why they are cutting people
- Duncan, Kent, 30/01/2009 14:48
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Everyone is baying for the bankers blood. However who amongst you would pay back the extraordinary tax take that this country has received from these guys and gals over the last 10 years, which Gordon Brown proceeded to waste in the most inept of ways?
Idiots.
- Nick, London, 30/01/2009 14:04
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Pablo - em what money did they steal??
Bobby - Why are you so angry - alot of these people are not personally responsible for the decisions made by their banks and have nothing personally to do with the state of our economy!!...alot of these people losing their jobs are on mediocre salaries and have families to support. Why do you take such great pleasure in their downfall??
- Nicky Brown, London, 30/01/2009 13:30
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I hope they pay us back the money they stole with their bonuses
- Pablo, Madrid, 30/01/2009 12:40
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Masters of the universe? This lot aren't even masters of their own bathtimes!
- Bobby Smith, Surrey, 30/01/2009 11:21
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