Wall Street heavyweights BlackRock and Goldman Sachs cut jobs
Wall Street heavyweights Goldman Sachs and BlackRock have each embarked on a round of layoffs, with Goldman reportedly shedding more than 3,000 employees and BlackRock letting go of up to 500 employees.
Goldman Sachs is reportedly cutting around 3,000 jobs
While the layoffs amount to around 6.5% of the total headcount at Goldman, which employs 49,100 staff, the job cuts at the firm are the worst since the financial crisis, Reuters reports.
Most of the bank’s major departments are affected in the cost-cutting drive, with its investment banking arm and global markets division faring the worst.
The firm had embarked on a hiring spree since the pandemic, adding more than 10,000 jobs, Reuters reports, as it sought to capitalise on buoyant market conditions.
In a statement, Goldman Sachs says: “We’re grateful for all our people’s contributions, and we’re providing support to ease their transitions. Our focus now is to appropriately size the firm for the opportunities ahead of us in a challenging macroeconomic environment.”
At BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, 500 jobs out of 19,900 are on the chopping block, according to reports from Insider and Bloomberg.
In December, BlackRock chief financial officer Gary Shedlin said the firm is “freezing most hiring and reducing expenses” at a financial conference hosted by Goldman Sachs, adding that these measures will put BlackRock in a better position next year. The move follows ongoing market volatility which saw US stocks tank in their worst performance since 2008.
The Wall Street titans join a long list of financial and technology firms impacted by inflation, interest rate hikes, the invasion of Ukraine, wider market uncertainty and a looming global recession.
