Washington Mutual to lay off more than 3,000

SEATTLE - Washington Mutual Inc., the nation’s largest savings and loan, said Monday that problems in the mortgage and credit markets are forcing it to close offices, lay off more than 3,000 workers and set aside up to $1.6 billion for loan losses in the fourth quarter.

WaMu is also slashing its quarterly dividend 73 percent and plans a $2.5 billion offering of preferred stock that is convertible to common shares. WaMu has not yet priced the offering, but increasing the total number of company shares will dilute their value for existing stockholders. In after-hours trading, WaMu shares fell $1.76, or nearly 9 percent, to $18.12 following the company’s announcement.

The offering follows recent announcements by other big banks and mortgage-related companies to sell special stock to shore up their finances.

Real Estate Designers offers totally innovative solutions for your software development, Internet programming, real estate web design and hosting needs. Our service includes domain name registration and real estate web design. Real Estate Designers provides the complete solution including design, application development and marketing.

source: msn.com