Morgan Stanley to lay off about 3% of its workforce as job cuts continue in financial sector

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NEW YORK (AP) — Morgan Stanley is laying off roughly 2,500 employees as job cuts continue this year in the financial sector.

The layoffs at Morgan Stanley, which account for roughly 3% of its workforce, are taking place across the entirety of investment bank, a person with knowledge familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity as the firm is not making a public statement about the layoffs.

Like other firms, Morgan Stanley aggressively hired during the pandemic, going from 60,000 employees in 2019 to 82,000 employees by year end 2022. The company had 83,000 employees at the end of 2025.

Tens of thousands of job cuts have already been made just two months into the new year, many of them white dollar. The financial sector has not been immune.

Citigroup and Blackrock have reportedly trimmed back their headcounts, and last week, financial technology company Block, which owns Cash App and the point-of-sale company Square, announced it would lay off 40% of its workforce. While Block founder Jack Dorsey cited productivity gains in AI as the reason for the layoffs, industry observers noted that Block effectively tripled its workforce from 2019 to 2025, from 3,800 workers to 12,000.

Morgan Stanley's job cuts would not impact the firm's financial advisors, but it is cutting back on employees who provide support functions inside of its profitable wealth management division.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the layoffs at Morgan Stanley on Thursday.