Fidelity preserves income with deep cuts

Reuters reports:

Operating income at FMR LLC, parent of Fidelity Investments, fell just 7 percent to $1.4 billion in the first nine months of 2009, even as revenues plunged, according to a confidential prospectus obtained by Reuters for a debt offering by the privately held firm.

The results far exceed the performance of the mutual fund operator's largest publicly traded rivals, as all try to weather fallout from the financial crisis and recession.

The entire industry has suffered as management fees plummeted along with the stock market's steep drop in 2008.

But the figures also show the deep cuts Boston-based Fidelity had to make to achieve those results.