Painewebber May Cut 250 Jobs

PaineWebber Group Inc. may lay off up to 250 employees and cut bonuses in a drive to reduce annual compensation at the brokerage company by up to $80 million, a newspaper reported Monday.

PaineWebber’s move aims to bring compensation expenses in line with those of other brokerage companies, The Wall Street Journal reported. The firm’s outlays for compensation exceed the industry average partly because of pay packages for employees it hired from Kidder, Peabody & Co. after it bought the brokerage from General Electric Co. last year.

In addition to the $80 million in compensation cuts, PaineWebber hopes to save up to $135 million more in other areas, like legal expenditures and purchasing.

The cuts mark an increase in cost-cutting plans set just a few weeks ago, when PaineWebber planned to cut $100 million from annual expenses and fire about 150 employees to boost profits, The Journal reported.