Blackrock, the world's largest asset manager, will freeze global hiring for "a few weeks," a source familiar with the situation said on condition of anonymity.
As the new coronavirus has swept across the globe, killing thousands of people, companies have cut their investment plans, withdrawn financial outlooks and laid off employees in response to the economic impact.
With $7.4 trillion of assets under management as of December 2019, making it the world's biggest investment manager, Blackrock's hiring freeze underlines how painful the impact of the global market selloff and the coronavirus will be for the real economy.
A spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
The source said plans made as recently as two weeks ago needed to be reviewed as the fund manager adjusts to a new way of doing business.
The total number of employees at the U.S.-headquartered firm stood at 16,200 in more than 30 countries with approximately 50% of those employees outside the United States, according to a U.S. regulatory filing.
This article originally appeared on Yahoo! Finance.
