Goldman To Cut 25 Percent of M&A Staff

It looks Goldman’s making some deep cuts after all.

Today it was revealed that the prestigious investment bank will slash about 25 percent of its M&A staff, mostly concentrated on junior-level bankers. Previously, as other big banks were announcing cuts in the thousands, Goldman maintained that it would actually be increasing headcount this year. Though that still might be the case, it seems that the fallout due to the subprime crisis finally caught up with the M&A superstars—merger and acquisition activity has taken a nose dive this year, as $1.8 trillion in acquisitions have been announced worldwide thus far in 2008, versus $2.39 trillion in the first half of 2007.

The cuts come just a day before Goldman reports its second quarter earnings, which are expected to be 33 percent less than the same period last year.