Nestlé has announced plans to cut 16,000 jobs worldwide over the next two years as its new chief executive, Philipp Navratil, initiates a sweeping transformation effort aimed at boosting efficiency and reigniting sales growth.
The Swiss conglomerate, whose portfolio spans more than 2,000 brands including Kit Kat, Nespresso and Purina, said the cuts represent around 5.8% of its global workforce of 277,000 employees. Around 12,000 white-collar roles will be eliminated, alongside 4,000 positions already being reduced in manufacturing and supply chain operations.
Announcing the restructuring, Navratil said the company must “change faster” to remain competitive in a shifting global market. “These are hard but necessary decisions to simplify our operations and secure long-term growth,” he stated.
The redundancies form part of a wider cost-saving drive, with Nestlé raising its efficiency target from 2.5 billion to 3 billion Swiss francs by the end of 2027. It anticipates annual savings of around one billion Swiss francs through the job cuts alone.
Nestlé’s announcement accompanied the release of its latest trading update, showing sales down 1.9%, to 65.9 billion Swiss francs (£59 billion), despite organic growth of 3.3% in the first nine months of 2025, driven mainly by price increases.
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The restructuring follows months of turmoil within the company’s leadership. Navratil took charge in September after the abrupt dismissal of former CEO Laurent Freixe over a workplace relationship, while chairman Paul Bulcke stepped down early to make way for former Inditex executive Pablo Isla.
Shares in Nestlé rose by around 8% following the announcement, reflecting investor optimism that the new leadership could restore stability to the world’s largest packaged food group, which has struggled to sustain growth since 2022.
