Food and beverage giant Nestl\u00e9 has announced plans to cut 16,000 jobs worldwide over the next two years as part of a sweeping restructuring strategy aimed at improving efficiency and refocusing investment on high-performing brands.<\/p>\n
The job cuts will include 12,000 white-collar roles in management and office positions and an additional 4,000 roles across manufacturing, logistics, and supply chain departments. The move comes amid a decline in profitability and shareholder pressure following sluggish growth and falling share prices.<\/p>\n
According to the company, the restructuring will help Nestl\u00e9 redirect resources toward its strongest-performing segments notably coffee, confectionery, and premium goods while conducting strategic portfolio reviews of its water, premium beverage, and supplements businesses.<\/p>\n
Nestl\u00e9\u2019s share price has dropped by around 35% since 2022, while sales growth reached just 2.2% in 2024, one of its weakest performances in years. However, a slight rebound was recorded in 2025, with growth climbing to 3.3% in the first nine months of the year.<\/p>\n
Reported net sales for the same period totaled CHF 65.9 billion (\u20ac70.96bn), down 1.9% year-on-year, largely due to exchange rate fluctuations. Rising trade barriers, such as the U.S. 39% import tariff on Swiss goods, have also added pressure to margins.<\/p>\n
Despite the cuts, Nestl\u00e9 expects to achieve annual savings of approximately CHF 1 billion, contributing to a total cost-savings target of CHF 3 billion by 2027.<\/p>\n
\u201cManagement have grand ambitions to bring Nestl\u00e9 back to where it has historically been, but for now the company is a work in progress,\u201d said Chris Beckett, consumer staples analyst at Quilter Cheviot.<\/p>\n
Nestl\u00e9\u2019s overhaul comes on the heels of significant management upheaval. Former CEO Laurent Freixe was dismissed in September for breaching the company\u2019s code of conduct after failing to disclose a romantic relationship with a subordinate. Shortly afterward, long-time chairman Paul Bulcke stepped down earlier than planned, succeeded by former Inditex CEO Pablo Isla.<\/p>\n
Following Freixe\u2019s departure, Philipp Navratil took over as CEO and spearheaded the restructuring initiative, stating that Nestl\u00e9 must \u201cchange faster\u201d to stay competitive.<\/p>\n
Despite the internal turmoil, the company\u2019s latest financial report exceeded expectations, showing a 1.5% increase in real internal growth during the third quarter well above analyst forecasts of 0.3%. The announcement of the restructuring also sparked a surge of over 8% in Nestl\u00e9\u2019s stock price by midday on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Analyst Beckett added that the company\u2019s renewed focus and financial discipline may soon pay off: \u201cFull-year guidance has been reaffirmed. We should see ongoing sales growth improvement with an operating margin of 16% or better. A few more quarters like this one may just help complete that story and put the company back on a trajectory of high-quality growth.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Food and beverage giant Nestl\u00e9 has announced plans to cut 16,000 jobs worldwide over the next two years as part of a sweeping restructuring strategy aimed at improving efficiency and refocusing investment on high-performing brands. The job cuts will include 12,000 white-collar roles in management and office positions and an additional 4,000 roles across manufacturing,<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14289,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_1160854738579181570_1160854738579181570":"","facebook_3558452337540614_100649324928663":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,23],"tags":[264,2005,2004,371,2002,2001,2000,2003],"class_list":["post-14288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","category-world-news","tag-business","tag-consumer-goods","tag-corporate-leadership","tag-economy","tag-global-restructuring","tag-job-cuts","tag-nestle","tag-switzerland"],"yoast_head":"\n