American Century Investments will cut 270 jobs, or 17 percent of its workforce of 1,600, this week, company spokesman Chris Doyle told The MFWire. It was not clear which parts of the Kansas City, Missouri-based investment management firm will be affected by the cuts. Doyle said the reduction will impact "most of the organization," but declined to provide specifics.

Affected employees will receive notices over the next few days. Friday will be their last day at the firm.

"Like most companies in the asset management industry, American Century is looking at reducing operational expenses due largely to the pullback in the equities markets," Doyle said. "The headcount reduction will bring the expense structure in line with anticipated future revenues."

Underscoring that the cost-cutting is mainly because of the market swoon, Doyle said that everything the firm has control over is "going extremely well."

"Frankly, we are doing an exceptional job managing client assets," he said, adding that 62 percent of American Century's funds have 4 and 5 star ratings, putting it on top among the top 25 diversified asset management firms in the country.

The layoffs come a few weeks after CEO Jonathan Thomas told the Kansas City Business Journal that the firm ended September with AUM of $84 billion, down $14 billion or 14.3 percent, from May (see The MFWire, October 24, 2008). Thomas told the pub that "obviously, we can't ignore a drop-off like this," and that the firm will be looking at all expenses, adding that he cannot rule out personnel from cost-cutting efforts.

In May, American Century let go of 90 employees when it realigned its focus toward institutional sales (see The MFWire, May 22, 2008). Company officials said at the time that they planned to offset the job reductions by adding sales people for the institutional channels and for brokers and distributors.

In early October, the company opened a London office, currently staffed by two employees. That number will grow to six by the first quarter, Doyle told The MFWire. American Century also plans to open an office in Hong Kong before the year ends. 

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