CSFB Fires Analysts In Airlines, Three Other Groups By JED HOROWITZ December 13, 2004 5:49 p.m. Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK -- Senior analysts at Credit Suisse First Boston Corp. (CSF.YY) covering the airlines, beverage, software and retail industries have been swept up in the layoffs that the firm announced it was putting in place last week. They include James Higgins, ranked as the top airlines analyst in The Wall Street Journal's "Best on the Street" survey in 2003; beverage analyst Andrew Conway who has ranked on Institutional Investor's first or second teams for the last three years, retailing analyst Richard Baum and software analyst John Rizzuto. A person at CSFB's switchboard said the four were no longer employed by the company. CSFB Chief Executive Brady Dougan last week said 200 to 300 people would be laid off in several departments and regions over the next six weeks as part of a plan to build profits at the U.S.-based investment banking arm of Credit Suisse Group (CSR) and more closely integrate its operations with its parent. He said the company would focus on specific areas of industry expertise, including banks and energy companies. "As we announced last week, there will be a relatively small number of job cuts across the firm tied to the new strategy," a CSFB spokeswoman said Monday. She wouldn't comment on specific names. About a dozen research department employees, including some junior analysts and assistants, got pink slips last week, according to a report in Wall Street Letter, an industry newsletter that named some of the analysts. Most of the cuts are expected to affect research, investment banking and equity sales and trading, people close to the firm said. The analysts were the first group to receive layoff notices, they said. On the client side, Dougan said the bank will try to focus its banking expertise on raising capital and other services for its top 50 accounts. In a related move, the company last week dismissed Anthia Christian, its small-cap stock strategist.