Merrill Lynch cagey over 10,000 job cuts
Merrill Lynch is remaining tight-lipped over reports it's poised to cut up to 10,000 jobs.
The Wall Street Journal says the job cuts will form part of a general overhaul at the largest US brokerage house.
Shedding 15% of its jobs will cost Merrill Lynch, which employs 8,800 people in Europe, around £639.5m.
The newspaper cites unidentified executives as saying the company is reviewing whether to reduce, or even exit, operations in countries such as Japan, Canada, Australia and India as profits fall.
Job cuts on the scale suggested would be the largest on Wall Street since 1990.
E Stanley O'Neal, the firm's new president and chief operating officer, is trying to cut costs as analysts expect the firm to report a 56% drop in third-quarter earnings when it releases results tomorrow.
Merrill Lynch has issued a statement saying: "Throughout this year, in a deteriorating revenue environment, we've been engaged in a review of all of our businesses to make sure they are sized properly for the market opportunity.
"While the pace of this review is accelerating, decisions will be made business-by-business and we have no overall company-wide headcount-reduction target."
Merrill Lynch has already cut 3,800 jobs this year after expanding its workforce by more than 35% since the end of 1996 to about 68,200 employees.
