IndyMac cuts 400 jobs
Mortgage lender IndyMac Bancorp Inc. said Friday that it laid off 400 employees, or about 4% of its workforce, including about 125 people in Southern California.
The Pasadena-based company blamed the layoffs on the slumping real estate market, which has reduced the demand for loans. IndyMac is the nation’s second-largest independent mortgage lender.
“The weak housing market means that the mortgage lending process is less profitable,” IndyMac spokesman Grove Nichols said.
Shares of IndyMac fell 75 cents to $26.54. They’ve plunged 41.2% this year.
The layoffs are mainly in operations and information technology and will bring the company’s workforce to 9,200.
“This action is all the more painful given our long-standing and openly stated philosophy of being opposed to layoffs,” Chief Executive Mike Perry said in an e-mail sent to employees Thursday.
