(ACBJ) - T. Rowe Price Group Inc. has laid off 2% of its employees across the globe, citing an “exceedingly challenging year” for the industry and company.
The Baltimore investment firm’s management committee sent a memo to employees to let them know that the company was downsizing.
“We made targeted expense reductions across the enterprise, including further reducing our third-party spending and eliminating roles, with approximately 2% of our associate population departing the firm,” a spokeswoman said in confirming the contents of the memo.
The company (NASDAQ: TROW) would not disclose the number of employees affected or where they worked. T. Rowe Price is headquartered in Baltimore but has operations in Owings Mills and Colorado Springs in the United States. It also has a presence in 16 foreign countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Hong Kong, Luxembourg and Singapore.
As of the end of 2021, T. Rowe Price reported that it had 7,529 employees. So 2% of the reported number could mean a reduction of about 150 employees. T. Rowe Price reported it employed 5,601 people in the Greater Baltimore region as of July 2022.
T. Rowe Price is not the only financial firm to cut staff. New York-based Citigroup laid off 50 trading personnel last week. London-based Barclays also let 200 employees go earlier this month. And Goldman Sachs terminated hundreds of employees in September.
T. Rowe Price told the BBJ that the layoffs are supposed to address current turbulent market conditions and “protect the company’s ability to invest in future growth.” The company said it offered transition assistance packages, outplacement support and other resources to the terminated employees.
“We deeply value the dedication and the contributions of our departing associates,” said the spokesperson.
The cuts come weeks after T. Rowe Price reported less-than-stellar earnings for the third quarter. Investors continued to pull billions from T. Rowe funds this year. In the last quarter, investors pulled $24.6 billion from funds. The company also reported revenue was down almost 20% compared to the same quarter last year, and profits down 50% from the same quarter last year.
T. Rowe Price CEO Rob Sharps said during an analyst call in September that it could take years before the outflows stop. However, Sharps said he does not feel that the outflows or this environment will be the end of the firm.
He addressed a turbulent market in April.
"Given this is an 85-year-old firm, kind of a tough environment in the beginning of 2022 certainly isn't going to kill us," Sharps said then. "I feel pretty good about a lot of what's going on behind the scenes, but there are certainly some challenges we need to work through."
By Garrett Dvorkin
