BlackRock is cutting 500 jobs as Wall Street layoffs continue
By Matt Egan, CNN
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is cutting about 500 jobs following a period of rapid hiring.
A spokesperson for BlackRock told CNN on Wednesday that the layoffs amount to less than 3% of the company’s workforce.
BlackRock, a leader on Wall Street, has been on a major hiring spree in recent years.
The company hasn’t conducted a major round of layoffs since 2019 and has increased its headcount by about 22% over the past three years, a BlackRock spokesperson told MarketWatch, adding the job cuts are coming in the face of an “unprecedented market environment.”
News of the job cuts was first reported by Business Insider.
BlackRock is just the latest major company and Wall Street firm to cut jobs.
Earlier this week, a person familiar with the matter told CNN that Goldman Sachs planned to cut up to 5,200 jobs amid a slump in global dealmaking and economic uncertainty.
Amazon revealed last week it is laying off about 18,000 employees, exceeding rumors of layoffs of about 10,000. Salesforce, the tech company run by billionaire Marc Benioff, also said last week it is cutting about 10% of its roughly 73,000 employees.
Last year marked the second-best year of job growth in American history.
However, a growing number of companies have disclosed plans to lay off workers.
Led by tech and media companies, employers announced 43,651 job cuts in December, up 129% from the same period of 2021, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Despite the uptick in layoffs, many other companies appear reluctant to cut jobs amid the ongoing worker shortage. Last week, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims unexpectedly declined to a three-month low.
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