Morgan Stanley to Cut About 2,000 Jobs

Morgan Stanley will reduce its global workforce by about 2,000 as Wall Street seeks to tame costs ahead of a potential U.S. recession.

The cuts amount to roughly 2% of the workforce, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private information. Morgan Stanley had more than 80,000 employees at the end of the third quarter.

“You’ve got to take into account the rate of growth we’ve had in the last few years,” Morgan Stanley Chief Executive Officer James Gorman said as the bank reported earnings in October. “We’ve learned some things during Covid about how we can operate more efficiently. So that’s something the management team is working on between now and the end of the year.”

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp. executives warned of hiring slowdowns on Tuesday, citing the uncertain economic outlook.