The investment firm Legg Mason said today it is cutting about 8 percent of its corporate staff, including jobs in Stamford, in response to severe market conditions.
The Baltimore-based company said the cuts are part of an effort to cut $120 million in corporate expenses by the March 31 end of its fiscal year.
“We believe that this reduction in staff will have no effect on our ability to serve clients, work with business partners and compete for assets around the world,” the company said in a statement.
Legg Mason spokeswoman Mary Athridge said the company has a corporate staff of more than 2,000 people and that the job cuts would come to less than 200. She was unable to be more specific.
She said about 100 of the jobs being cut are in Baltimore, with others in New York, Stamford, and overseas.
The cuts don’t affect the company’s investment affiliates, which make staffing decisions themselves, she said.
Legg Mason, which recently posted a worse-than-expected fiscal second-quarter loss, said earlier this week that it had amended its debt covenants to allow it to carry more debt and announced hefty charges related to some risky investments it still holds. (AP)
