CNBC: Pressure mounts on Lehman to sell before its forced to make deep staff cuts
More job cuts at Lehman?: CNBC's Charlie Gasparino reports that the inner ranks at Lehman Brothers are pressuring Dick Fuld to sell the firm sooner rather than later. While he said on Monday when earnings (er...losses) were announced, it's pretty clear he'd rather not go that route if he can avoid it. But nervous senior bankers are said to be reaching out to other banking firms, looking for job before the axman comes; they think that if the environment doesn't change dramatically so that Lehman can actually do business that makes bucks, there are major staff cuts coming so they'd rather have the firm sold to a bigger player. We wonder, though, why they think that's a panacea. Anyone who acquires them would probably make pretty deep cuts themselves. It seems pretty clear to us....if the business doesn't grow / make money soon there will be deep cuts, and if the business is sold, there will also be deep cuts. Bottom line: Lehman's employee ranks will be shrinking.
Still people inside the firm say the future looks dim. So far this year, Lehman has cut its workforce by around 10%. But the additional layoffs could be much larger given the scope of the problems faced by Lehman--as high as 20%, Wall Street executives estimate, unless a deal is done or business begins to improve.
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