Food and beverage giant Nestle said it will cut 16,000 jobs over the next two years, as its new CEO, Philipp Navratil, pushes to focus on products with the “highest potential returns”.
The Swiss company must “change faster” to keep pace with a changing world and adopt a “performance mindset” that does not accept losing market share to rivals, Mr Navratil said.
He replaced former CEO Laurent Freixe, who was fired in September over a romantic relationship with an employee.
The job cuts were announced on Thursday, as Nestlé reported better sales figures in the first nine months of 2025, with sales up across its major categories, including coffee and sweets.
The world’s largest packaged food and drink company, Nestlé, owns hundreds of brands, including Nescafé, KitKat, and Maggi.
Nestle plans to eliminate 12,000 white-collar jobs, on top of 4,000 other roles across the board, within the next two years, it said in a statement.
The lay-offs will save the food giant around one billion SFr (£940m) annually as part of an ongoing cost-savings effort, it said.
Mr Navratil said: “We are fostering a culture that embraces a performance mindset, that does not accept losing market share, and where winning is rewarded… The world is changing, and Nestlé needs to change faster.”
