After the stock plunged on Tuesday following an announcement that talks to sell its Newburger Burman asset management division to Korean Development Bank ended without conclusion, Lehman Brothers pre-announced earnings on Wednesday and reported a larger-than-expected $5.92 loss per share.

The street had been looking for a $3.45 loss.

The investment bank also cut dividends from 68 cents per share to 5 cents per share, taking a mark-to-market writedown of $7.8 billion.

While the press release from Lehman does not address what happened to talks with the Korean Development Bank, the firm said it was in advanced talks to sell its commercial real estate assets business and was attempting to sell a majority stake its in its investment management division.

The firm also said it was in talks with Blackrock to sell $4 billion of UK mortgage portfolio assets.

By Erik Kevin Franco and edited by Nancy Girgis
©CEP News Ltd. 2008