NovaStar to Slash 17 Percent of Workforce 

NovaStar Financial, Inc. (NYSE:NFI) said Friday that it will lay off roughly 350 employees — 17 percent of its workforce — in a move it characterized as necessary to “align its organization with changing conditions in the mortgage market.” In a press statement, the company said the layoff will largely focus on the company’s wholesale loan origination group and related functions, including employees at the company’s headquarters in Kansas City and at operation centers in California and Ohio. Subject to completion of the necessary legal notices and requirements, implementation of the reductions will begin immediately and conclude during the second quarter of 2007, NovaStar said.