The Bank of America has just announced up to 35,000 job cuts will occur over the next 3 years. The Bank of America recently acquired Merrill Lynch for $50 billion on Sept 14 2008, Merrill stock is now down almost 47% from that time period, resulting in a loss of about $30 million for BA from the acquisition. Both are continuing to struggle from the financial crisis and are trying to cut costs in order to maximize returns and pay back government aid. The Bank of America and Merrill Lynch employee about The Bank of America employees and Merrill both employee about 308,000 (BA employees almost 250,000, Merrill 61,000). The cuts will come from all business divisions across both companies. More job cuts are expected once BA completes additional planning related to the acquisition.

In other news, Office Depot announced it will lay off 2,200 people as it restructures to cut costs to better position itself as a result of the financial crisis. The company will shut down 33 distribution centers and will close 112 retail stores in North America just over the next 3 months. The move is expected to save Office Depot between $280 and $300 million by the end of 2009. The Office Depot Q3 report can be found here.