Morgan Stanley is planning another round of layoffs that would eliminate approximately 3,000 jobs. The job cuts would mark the second round of layoffs in the past six months at Morgan Stanley.
The company employed about 82,500 people as of the end of the year 2023. The Wall Street Bank is preparing to cut these 3,000 jobs around all the company’s branches around the world. This round of layoffs by Morgan Stanley is its second round of job cuts in six months.
The Great Layoff
Morgan Stanley is far from being the only company to undergo layoffs amid higher inflation and recession fears in the United States economy. As of the past few months, Facebook’s parent company, “META” reported 11,000 job cuts announced since November and the 10,000 announced recently, which would bring Facebook’s headcount down to around 66,000 — a reduction of about 25%.
In less than four months countless companies such as Walmart laid off hundreds of workers at five centers, Glassdoor, and Yahoo also eliminated 20% of staff, or 1600 jobs Amazon, Meta, Citigroup, and Twitter just to mention a few have all fired staffs to cut excess expenses.
In the banking sector, Citigroup, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo have all also culled jobs so far this year, as have law firms, including Kirkland & Ellis, and Silicon Valley Bank laid off Employees Quietly Before Collapse.
Who is on the safe side?
It is all about the drop in investment
Last month, Morgan Stanley disclosed a 24% drop in investment banking revenue driven by a slowdown in mergers, initial public offerings, and debt financing. The latest move follows another quarter in which fees from the investment banking unit fell, dragging total revenue down nearly 2% to $14.5 billion. Investment banks have been hurt by a slump in deal-making caused by the Federal Reserve’s war on inflation and the banking crisis, a person familiar with the matter tells the Financial Times.
What is Morgan Stanley Saying?
Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman had said in December that the bank would make “modest” job cuts worldwide without giving an exact number. Many of the regional banks and Wall Street’s investment banks have suffered from a downturn in deals as investors grew more cautious about volatile markets and rapidly rising interest rates.
Morgan Stanley finance chief Sharon Yeshaya had said that “expense management” was a priority given the broader market uncertainty and elevated inflation. This way it is believed that Morgan Stanley would not end up like regional banks like when recently, JPMorgan Chase bought troubled First Republic Bank after a U.S. government takeover.
