Thomas Weisel Posts 40% Drop in Revenue

San Francisco-based investment bank Thomas Weisel Partners said Wednesday that fourth-quarter revenue fell 40%, capping a 32% decline for all of 2002, as demand for stock sales and merger advice tumbled amid Wall Street’s ongoing bear market.

The privately held partnership said revenue in the quarter totaled $45.7 million, down from $76 million a year earlier. Revenue for the year fell to $237 million from $346 million in 2001, the firm said. It doesn’t disclose its earnings.

Slumping revenue prompted Weisel to cut an undisclosed number of jobs from its 600-person staff earlier this month, after eliminating 220 positions in the last two years. Securities firms have cut more than 80,000 jobs worldwide since the end of 2000 as diminished stock trading as well as weak demand for underwriting cut into trading commissions and banking fees.

Last year “was unquestionably a challenging year, with ... mergers and acquisitions and equity issuance experiencing the worst environment in over 10 years,” Thomas Weisel, the firm’s founder and chief executive, said in a statement.

To make up for weaker profits in the technology industry, Weisel expanded its focus last year to other industries, including health care and consumer products and services.

The firm said it helped arrange $7.25 billion of stock sales for companies including Peet’s Coffee & Tea Inc. in 2002. Weisel also said it advised companies involved in 17 acquisitions valued at $2.1 billion, including Web-search company Inktomi Corp. on its $235-million sale to Yahoo Inc.

Weisel is one of 12 Wall Street firms involved in a broad probe by state and federal regulators into Wall Street’s behavior during the late-1990s bull market. The Times reported this week that efforts to reach a settlement between Weisel and regulators have reached an impasse.