Goldman Sachs sacks 3,200 employees

New York, Nov 7: Around 3,200 employees og Goldman Sachs Inc have been shown exit doors. The decision was taken by the Company earleir to slump 10 per cent of firm's global work force amid declining markets, sources said on Wednesday, Nov 4. Goldman Sachs has declined to comment. Two weeks ago, it was reported that Goldman planned to cut 10 percent of its staff, or almost 3,300 jobs, reflecting the weak economy and a cut back in proprietary trading.
The cuts are an about-face for a company that as recently as Sep insisted its headcount would rise this year. The latest cuts reduce headcount to the lowest since 2006 and hit every businesses and region. The investment bank has managed to avoid the kind of losses from mortgages and corporate loans that have hobbled rivals, yet Goldman still has suffered from the steep decline in merger and underwriting activity, as well as plunging prices for stocks and other investments.

Goldman has quietly and slowly cut jobs all year. The bank laid-off hundreds of M &A support staff and junior bankers in June due to slowing markets, following a round of leveraged lending and mortgage securities cuts in April.

Early this year, Goldman cut 1,500 people, or 5 percent of its staff, following 2007 performance reviews.

Goldman converted last month to a bank holding company supervised by the Federal Reserve and then raised $10 billion from Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

These moves, together with a pending $10 billion investment by the US Treasury, will create a more stable but less profitable company.

Merrill Lynch analyst Guy Moszkowski last week predicted Goldman will report a fourth-quarter loss, its first since going public in 1999.

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