Harvard endowment lays off workers

Posted Feb 8th 2009 8:40AM by Zac Bissonnette
Filed under: Management, Recession

With its value plunging along with the rest of the market, Harvard's endowment is laying off a full 25% of its staff -- 50 people.

Harvard's endowment has an unusually large staff because, unlike most colleges, it manages a significant portion of its money in-house. At most colleges, the endowment managers main task is to select outside managers for the funds.

Harvard's endowment managers have come under some fire lately for the seven-figure pay packages they often receive. According to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), "For the most-recent academic year, HMC paid its top six managers $26.8 million."

By laying off a quarter of its staff to reflect a decline of around 25% -- probably a bit more -- in the endowment's value. Harvard is preventing its costs from growing to a higher percentage of its asset value. Lower bonuses for fund managers will also help the endowment control its costs.

Tags: Endowment, Harvard, inthenews

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

2-08-2009 @ 3:20PM

thedude said...

This is a good thing, maybe if their endowment falls low enough it will reduce the number of Harvard grads entering the work place.

I always wonder what percent of the current economic crises can be placed directly at the feet of Harvard (and other allegedly "Ivy League" schools) graduates.

I bet it is a disproportionatley high number.