LayoffBlog.com

Rockefeller & Co’s CEO committed suicide: report
(Reuters) – James McDonald, chief executive officer of investment management firm Rockefeller & Co, committed suicide on Sunday in Massachusetts, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter. – Source: Reuters

Newport Beach financier Danny Pang dies at 42
(LATimes) – Newport Beach financier Danny Pang died early Saturday at a local hospital, according to the Orange County coroner’s office. The cause of death has not been determined and an autopsy is planned for Sunday, said Larry Esslinger, supervising deputy coroner. – Source: LATimes

Financier Finn Casperson dead in apparent suicide
(Inquisitr) – Ex-CEO of Beneficial Corp. Finn H.W. Casperson was found dead in an apparent suicide behind an office building in Westerly, Rhode Island. – Source: TheInquisitr

Dying Blagojevich fundraiser said he overdosed, mayor says
(CNN) – Police are investigating the death of the former chief fundraiser for ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich as a “death-suicide,” an Illinois mayor said Sunday. – Source: CNN

Source: Infowars

Some employees at BusinessWeek magazine were surprised to hear about layoffs proposed in the first quarter of this year — they said they hadn’t heard a thing about it.

According to the information memorandum, 55 of 217 positions are supposed to be eliminated. Of sales, 9 of 69. Of marketing, 6 of 26. Of technology, 8 of 33. Of circulation, just one of 19. And in the “other” category, 6 of 57. That’s a total of 85 eliminations among 421 jobs - about 20 percent - leaving 336 BusinessWeek employees.

Source: NYTimes

MassMutual Financial Group laid off an additional 160 workers Tuesday, bringing the total number of jobs lost during a corporate-wide restructuring to 500.

Source: MassLive.com

China’s state-owned enterprises may unilaterally terminate commodities contracts as they try to cut massive losses from financial derivatives, an industry source told Caijing on August 28.

According to the source, China’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) has sent notice to six foreign financial institutions informing them that several state-owned enterprise will reserve the right to default on commodities contracts signed with those institutions.

Most investment banks may “just swallow” any losses arising from canceled contracts, the executive said, adding that any losses are usually made up for with compensating trades.

Source: Caijing.com.cn

Bank of America Corp. has notified the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation that it plans to lay off 50 employees at its Fort Lauderdale claims and recovery office. Employees have been notified that the layoffs will start Oct. 25.

Source: Charlotte BusinessJournal

Wells Fargo is closing a mortgage processing center in North Carolina, eliminating 62 jobs at an office in Durham.

Source: MyFox8

~News submitted by upthecreek

“Chinese stock and property markets have bubbled up again. It was fueled by bank lending and inflation fear. I think that Chinese stocks and properties are 50-100% overvalued. The odds are that both will adjust in the fourth quarter. However, both might flare up again sometime next year. Fluctuating within a long bubble could be the dominant trend for the foreseeable future. The bursting will happen when the US dollar becomes strong again. The catalyst could be serious inflation that forces the Fed to raise interest rate.” - Andy Xie, former Morgan Stanley Analyst

Source: Ritholtz.com, my1510.CN

The closure follows actions taken by HUD yesterday in response to TBW’s failure to submit a required annual report and to disclose “certain irregular transactions that raised concerns of fraud.” HUD also proposed to bar two members of senior management from dealings with the US Government for 18 months owing to HUD’s allegation the two submitted false information to the agency.

Source: MortgageNewsDaily

~News submitted by upthecreek

State regulators shut down seven regional banks Friday, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said, bringing the total number of banks to fail in the United States to 64 this year. [..] Friday’s seven closures will cost the FDIC fund $812.6 million, bringing the total cost for failed banks to $14.21 billion this year.

Source: CNNMoney

The composite second-quarter earnings for companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index are expected to drop 31% from a year earlier, compared with a decline of 35% predicted last week.
Declines are expected in nine of the 10 sectors in the S&P 500 Index from a year earlier. The health-care sector is the only one expecting an increase in earnings, of 2%.

Source: WSJ

Venture capital investment fell 51 percent in the second quarter as firms coped with the recession and a drought in initial public offerings, bringing funding for startups to the lowest level in 15 years.

Source: Bloomberg

Janus Capital Group Inc.’s Chief Executive Gary Black resigned and director Tim Armour was named interim chief executive as the asset manager reported second-quarter profit sank 76% on lower revenue.

Source: WSJ

Credit card issuer Advanta Corp. on Friday said it’s laying off half its work force. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Advanta said the company will have less than 200 employees after the layoffs.

Source: CNBC, AP

~News submitted by upthecreek

Chrysler Financial will cut about 350 jobs and close a customer service center near Kansas City due to tight credit and weak car sales, the financial services firm said on Tuesday.

Source: Reuters

Intuit Inc., the company that makes TurboTax software, said Friday it was laying off 300 employees, or 4 percent of its 8,200-strong work force. Employees were given 60-day notifications.

Source: CNBC, AP

~News submitted by upthecreek

Morgan Stanley, the sixth-biggest U.S. bank by assets, will increase some executive salaries and double Chief Financial Officer Colm Kelleher’s pay as bonuses come under scrutiny from the Obama administration and lawmakers.

Source: Bloomberg

American Express Co, the credit card and travel services company, on Monday said it plans to eliminate 4,000 jobs, or 6 percent of its workforce, as the weakened economy causes higher customer defaults.

Source: Reuters

According to Dow Jones, Morning Star: “Singapore Minister for Manpower Gan Kim Yong Wednesday said that layoffs during the first quarter of 2009 is likely to have crossed 10, 000.”

~News submitted by upthecreek

According to Reuters, CNBC: “Discover Financial Services, the fourth-largest U.S. credit card network, will cut 500 jobs, or 4 percent if its workforce, in May, hurt by mounting credit losses, the company said on Tuesday.”

~News submitted by upthecreek

Sallie Mae plans to create 2,000 jobs in the United States by reversing previous outsourcing actions and bringing all of its overseas operations back to America.

The jobs would be created during the next 18 months, and that most of the new positions in the U.S. would be at call center operations, in technology and loan servicing.

Sallie Mae has operations in 20 cities across the U.S., and manages $180 billion in education loans and serves 10 million student and parent customers.

Source: Dayton Business Journal