By Sam Boughedda
BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) will cut around 500 employees, Yahoo Finance reported on Wednesday.
The number represents around 3% of the asset manager's workforce. Yahoo said it had seen an internal email from the company confirming the layoffs.
It would mean another of Wall Street's firms cutting its headcount following a year of market and economic uncertainty.
BlackRock's Chief Executive Larry Fink and president Rob Kapito are said to have told staff in a memo on Wednesday that "after meaningful headcount growth in recent years," the firm is "making some changes" to the size and shape of its workforce.
"As a result of these steps, about 500 (or less than 3%) of our colleagues will be leaving BlackRock as we reallocate resources to our most critical growth opportunities," the memo reportedly says.
Over the past three years, Fink and Kapito said BlackRock, which is the world's largest asset manager and has $8 trillion in assets under management, grew its workforce by 22%.
The company said in the memo that equity and fixed income markets had declined significantly, and it is having to contend with market volatility and uncertainty.
They are said to have added that the uncertainty "makes it more important than ever" that they stay ahead of changes in the market and "focus on delivering for our clients."