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Goldman axes 150 jobs
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May 23, 2001: 5:38 p.m. ET
Firm cuts staff of investment bankers from across group amid slowdown
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Adding its name to a growing list of Wall Street firms trimming staff, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has cut 150 investment banking jobs as part of a plan to reduce the investment firm's work force by about 5 percent.
The cuts, outlined earlier this year, included some senior, highly paid bankers at the level of managing director, a Goldman spokeswoman told Reuters. The cuts are the latest on Wall Street, where firms have been hit by a slump in mergers and acquisitions activity and a drop in companies selling stock to raise funds.
"For some time Goldman Sachs has been expecting firm-wide reduction in headcount as a result of stricter performance review, attrition, and a reduction in lateral hiring. That will be offset by addition of new recruits to the firm by the end of the year," said a spokeswoman for Goldman in New York, who declined to comment on the specifics of the job cuts.
A senior Goldman investment banker told CNNfn Wednesday that the reports of the job cuts are "true, but old news," adding that most of the cuts already have taken place.
"It's not like they're coming through here with an ax," the banker said. He could not confirm the exact number of jobs cut.
Goldman's rivals, including Morgan Stanley (MWD: Research, Estimates), Merrill Lynch (MER: Research, Estimates), Citigroup (C: Research, Estimates)'s Salomon Smith Barney, and Charles Schwab (SCH: Research, Estimates), have also cut jobs this year.
UBS Warburg said Tuesday it was eliminating 250 jobs while Swiss rival Credit Suisse First Boston had to raise its job cut target above 10 percent as the number of people it expected to leave naturally after bonus day in February was lower than expected, Reuters said.
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Despite the cuts at Goldman, total staff of 23,000 could grow 2-to-3 percent this year after hiring in other areas of the firm, according to a Goldman official said in Hong Kong who declined to comment on the investment banking cuts.
Goldman (GS: down $3.99 to $99.30, Research, Estimates) CEO Henry Paulson also took a 12 percent pay cut in 2000, receiving $22.5 million versus $25.3 million the prior year. 
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Goldman Sachs
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