Business Desk
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
BANKING
MORGAN’S GORMAN FIRES 500 BROKER TRAINEES James Gorman, Morgan Stanley’s new retail brokerage head, further upheaved the poorly performing unit by firing about 500 people in its four-year broker training program.
The move follows the firing of at least 1,000 experienced brokers last summer before Mr. Gorman arrived. “While some of these individuals have been successful, many have not, and in fact are struggling … in a profession that is increasingly demanding and difficult,” Mr. Gorman wrote in a memo yesterday addressed to his “colleagues.” In addition to letting go the 500 trainees, about half of the current class, Morgan Stanley will reduce the number of new participants in the program by half to between 700 and 1,000 each year, Mr. Gorman wrote.
– Dow Jones Newswires
EARNINGS
NEWS CORP. EXPECTS STRONG FOURTH-QUARTER FINISH News Corporation is still targeting 12% growth in fiscal-2006 operating profit and expects a strong fourth quarter from its film unit, driven by “Ice Age 2.” News Corporation is “still comfortable” with the 12% target, Chief Financial Officer Daniel DeVoe said during a conference call to discuss third-quarter earnings.
News Corporation also announced plans to increase its ongoing share-buyback program to $6 billion from $3 billion over the next two years. Chairman Rupert Murdoch said he sees “no better use of our cash” than buying back shares.
– Dow Jones Newswires
IN BRIEF
By lifting his stake in the London Stock Exchange, Nasdaq Stock Market chief Robert Greifeld has built a tall hurdle that rival suitors would have to overcome while putting Nasdaq in position to add its share of the LSE’s earnings to its own bottom line … The Hartford Financial Services Group has agreed to pay $20 million to settle an investigation into claims of fraudulent sales practices in retirement products, the attorneys general of Connecticut and New York said yesterday. The Hartford agreed to return $16.1 million in profit.
– Dow Jones Newswires and Associated Press