Swiss food conglomerate Nestle will cut 16,000 jobs worldwide as it seeks to cut costs and win back investor confidence, said its new chief executive officer (CEO), Philipp Navratil, on Thursday (Oct 16).
According to a report from Bloomberg, the layoffs will amount to about 6% of the company’s total workforce, which numbers around 277,000 employees across 185 markets.
“The world is changing, and Nestle needs to change faster,” said Navratil, who took over the helm of the company in early Sept. This includes making “hard but necessary decisions to reduce headcount over the next two years,” he added.
Navratil spoke as the company published nine-month figures showing sales down by 1.9% to CHF 65.9 billion (S$107.2 billion).
The layoffs will include 12,000 white-collar jobs, which Nestle said was twice of what had been previously planned and will save the company CHF 1 billion. This comes on top of 4,000 job cuts already ongoing in production and the supply chain.
When Vulcan Post asked if the job cuts would impact Singapore, Nestle said the “announced workforce reduction” applies to “all markets and all functions globally” over the next two years.
“It will affect each market in a different way, and each market will prepare its own plan,” the company said. “At this stage, we are not in a position to give specific numbers. The plan will be subject to consultations with works councils in various markets.”
According to the Singapore Economic Development Board, Nestle currently employs more than 1,300 people in various sectors like manufacturing, R&D and its regional treasury centre. The Swiss giant also has two factories here.
Stalling sales & management turmoil
Nestle owns more than 2,000 brands—from Perrier water to Purina dog food. It has been fighting to reverse stalling sales growth and arrest a share price slide amid US import tariffs, while costs have risen and debt levels have climbed, increasing pressure from investors.
It also experienced a turbulent Sept, marked by the dismissal of its previous CEO, Laurent Freixe, over an office relationship. In the wake of the scandal, chairman Paule Bulcke also stepped down earlier than scheduled.
A Nestle veteran of more than 20 years who most recently ran the Nespresso business, Navratil has indicated he will continue Freixe’s strategy of increasing advertising spending, focusing on fewer but larger product initiatives and divesting of underperforming units.
On a call with reporters Oct 16, he identified Nestle’s top priority as further increasing real internal growth, and added the company is evaluating everything in its portfolio. Any job losses through divestments won’t be counted toward the 16,000 planned reductions.
Financial analysts hope that Navratil will succeed in restoring stability to the group, which has seen its growth falter since 2022. Nestle has also been rocked by a scandal surrounding its bottled water that began in France in 2024.
- Read other articles we’ve written on job trends here.
Featured Image Credit: OleksSH/ Shutterstock.com
