Lazard plans to slash 10% of its global workforce this year, with the layoffs affecting all of its businesses as part of the firm’s “cost-saving initiatives.”
The workforce reduction will impact all of Lazard’s businesses: financial advisory, corporate and asset management, a spokeswoman confirmed in an email.
The company took a $21 million charge in the first quarter in connection with these cost cuts and expects to record an additional charge of about $95 million, said a news release Friday.
The spokeswoman said the “$95 million is an additional charge over the course of the year, which will be excluded from our adjusted results.”
Kenneth M. Jacobs, Lazard chairman and CEO, said in the release: "We are implementing cost-saving initiatives to right-size for the current environment and provide flexibility to strategically invest in our business."
According to the company's annual report, Lazard had 3,402 employees as of Dec. 31, suggesting about 340 jobs will be eliminated.
Separately, at Lazard Asset Management, an indirect subsidiary of Lazard, assets under management totaled $232.1 billion as of March 31, a 7.4% increase from Dec. 31, 2022, but an 8.1% drop from a year ago.
The sequential increase in AUM was driven by market appreciation of $11.6 billion, foreign exchange appreciation of $1.4 billion and net inflows of $3 billion, which includes approximately $3.9 billion related to a wealth management acquisition, the release noted.
