Merrill Lynch to cut 9,000 jobs worldwide

Merrill Lynch, the world's largest brokerage firm, will cut about 9,000 jobs, or 16 per cent of its work force, and take a $2…

Merrill Lynch, the world's largest brokerage firm, will cut about 9,000 jobs, or 16 per cent of its work force, and take a $2.2 billion charge as it wrestles to rein in costs and eke out profits in the slack US economy.

Merrill cut 6,100 jobs last year and in October offered severance packages, potentially worth more than a year's salary, to all of its employees in an effort to reduce its work force and cut costs.

Merrill said it expects fourth-quarter revenues to be down about eight per cent from the third quarter, mostly because of slack bond trading revenues and less investment banking business.

It said the steps to cut jobs and costs should save it about $1.4 billion annually. The company employed about 57,000 people around the world at the end of the fourth quarter.