Lehman To Lay Off 1,500 Workers

Lehman Brothers will let go some 1,500 staffers - about 6 percent of its workforce - in its fourth set of layoffs this year. The New York Times reports the layoffs will probably come in mid-September, before the firm announces its third-quarter results. Since June 2007, Lehman has laid off more than 6,000 of its employees.

Jeff Harte, a securities industry analyst at Sandler O'Neill, told the Times he expects cutbacks across Wall Street to continue. "We're not done seeing headcount reductions on Wall Street this cycle," he said. Bloomberg News says banks and securities firms have eliminated more than 101,000 jobs so far in 2008 as the industry struggles to cope with the slowing economy and fallout from the credit crisis.

Lehman is expected to show poor results for the quarter. According to the Times, the firm may write-down up to $4 billion and show a quarterly loss of an estimated $3.30 a share.

Marketplace notes Lehman is rumored to have been seeking capital by either selling its asset manager Neuberger Berman, "or through an infusion."

Lehman had not comment on the layoffs.