Morgan Stanley cuts over 2,500 jobs worldwide, but says AI is not behind the move

Amid the growing job cuts, investment bank Morgan Stanley has reportedly laid off over 2,500 employees all over the world. This counts as three percent of its global workforce, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. It must be noted that the company has not acknowledged the layoff officially.

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As per the reports, the job cuts have affected major divisions within the company, including investment banking and trading, along with wealth and investment. However, financial advisors were not impacted by the move, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. Which locations were hit still remains under wraps.

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Interestingly, unlike the recent job cuts in different companies, the layoffs at Morgan Stanley are not related to the use of AI. As per Reuters, the decision was instead related to strategic adjustments and individual employee performance reviews. The report also added that the company is planning to hire for certain roles, hinting at a redistribution of the roles.

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The layoffs come after the bank reported a strong financial performance last year. For the unversed, Morgan Stanley recorded annual revenue, supported in part by a sharp rise in investment-banking activity. During the fourth quarter, revenue from investment banking jumped by 47 percent as dealmaking accelerated, while debt-underwriting fees nearly doubled.

The reports, citing banking executives, have expressed optimism about the year ahead. However, the broader market environment remains uncertain.

In the meantime, many companies, including Jack Dorsey’s payments firm Block, have announced layoffs. Last week, the company announced the layoff of approximately 4,000 employees from its 10,000-person workforce as it accelerates the integration of AI throughout its operations. However, the workforce reduction at Morgan Stanley appears to be unrelated to AI adoption, implying that the decision is motivated by other strategic or performance-related factors rather than automation.

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Ashish Singh

Ashish Singh is the Chief Copy Editor at Digit. He's been wrangling tech jargon since 2020 (Times Internet, Jagran English '22). When not policing commas, he's likely fueling his gadget habit with coffee, strategising his next virtual race, or plotting a road trip to test the latest in-car tech. He speaks fluent Geek. View Full Profile