MarketWatch: Fidelity to cut 1,700 jobs early next year

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Fidelity to cut 1,700 jobs early next year
New cuts will bring planned dismissals to roughly 7% of total workforce
By John Letzing, MarketWatch


SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Fidelity Investments plans to cut roughly 1,700 jobs during the first quarter of 2009, as the world's largest mutual fund manager grapples with the effects of the market meltdown.

The fund industry as a whole has swooned recently, as record amounts have been pulled from U.S. mutual funds amid the broad market sell-off.

News of Fidelity's planned job cuts follows a separate move earlier this week by the Boston-based firm to cut 1,300 jobs.

Fidelity spokeswoman Anne Crowley said it has yet to be determined where the job cuts will be implemented within the company.

Fidelity had been expected to undertake two rounds of job cuts, though the exact number involved in the second round hadn't been made clear to employees until Friday, Crowley said. All together, the cuts will result in the dismissal of roughly 7% of Fidelity's total workforce of 44,000.

"We're a company that's always been appropriately cost conscious, but we've had unprecedented events that are affecting every industry, including ours," Crowley said.

Fidelity is only one of a number of financial firms facing cutbacks. ......(more)

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