Legg Mason Inc. of Baltimore announced plans Friday to cut about 200 jobs, or 8% of its work force, as it seeks to reduce annual expenses by $120 million.
The layoffs "reflect the realities of continued severe market conditions," Mary Athridge, a Legg Mason spokeswoman, wrote in an e-mail. Dismissals will be mainly in the United States.
The company has posted three straight unprofitable quarters because of $977 million of expenses to prop up money funds and a 16% drop in client assets, to $841.9 billion. It said earlier last week that it had identified $100 million of cost reductions.
U.S. money managers have trimmed about 4,000 jobs in the past two months in response to the worst stock market declines since the Great Depression.
Fidelity Investments is dismissing 3,000 people, or 7% of its work force, and BlackRock Inc. is cutting an undisclosed number of jobs.
