CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Wachovia Corp. is getting a lesson in "timing is everything."

The nation's fourth-largest bank reported a $393 million first-quarter loss and has been forced to cut its dividend and seek a $7 billion cash injection to make up for a poorly timed expansion of its mortgage business.

Wachovia also said it plans to cut 500 jobs in its corporate and investment bank.

"I'm deeply disappointed with our first-quarter results," chief executive Ken Thompson told analysts Monday during a conference call. "I know these actions aren't without cost. I wish they weren't necessary, but they are."

Shares in Wachovia fell $2.72, or nearly 10 percent, to $25.09 on Monday.

Wachovia's troubles with the housing slump have been compounded by its 2006 acquisition of California-based Golden West Financial Corp., a $25 billion deal whose timing, Thompson has acknowledged, "was not the best."

Wachovia's loss for the quarter works out to 20 cents a share. That compared with profit of $2.3 billion, or $1.20 a share, a year earlier. Revenue fell 4.5 percent to $7.89 billion from $8.27 billion last year.

Wachovia also said it took write-downs of $2 billion during the quarter related to the credit crunch. It also set aside $2.8 billion to cover problem loans, up from $1.5 billion in the fourth quarter.

To shore up its balance sheet, Wachovia plans to cut its dividend by 41 percent to 37.5 cents per share. It said the move is expected to save $2 billion a year "to build capital ratios and provide more operational flexibility."

Its share sale will involve 145.8 million shares of common stock at $24 each, raising about $3.5 billion.