Bruce Wasserstein, head of Lazard, is looking to cut jobs and ask bank partners to take pay cuts of up to 40% ahead of its $3bn (€2.4bn) to $3.7bn initial public offering, the New York Post reports.

Lazard has already started preparing lists of possible layoff candidates, the paper said, citing sources close to the situation, and partners will be asked to take cuts of between 30% and 40% in order to maximise profits ahead of an initial public offering.