Osmond ChiaBusiness reporter
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, said Mr Navratil.
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 Nestle reported better sales figures in the first nine months of 2025, selling more products across its major categories, including coffee and sweets.
The world’s largest packaged food and drink company, Nestle owns hundreds of brands, including Nescafe, KitKat and Maggi.
Nestle plans to get rid of 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 1bn SFr (£940m) annually as part of an ongoing cost-savings effort, it said.
Nestle’s share price was up 7.5% shortly after its trading update and job cuts were announced.
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 Nestle needs to change faster.
Such change would include “hard but necessary decisions to reduce headcount”, he said.
The details signalled that Mr Navratil wants to “bring greater transparency to areas that were previously more opaque in Nestle’s cost-saving plans,” Morningstar equity analyst Diana Radu said .
The job cuts, she said, appear to be an effort to “reset expectations and rebuild investor confidence through measurable actions”.
Mr Navratil’s predecessor was sacked by Nestle in early September after an investigation into whistleblower allegations that he did not disclose a romantic relationship with a direct subordinate.
The company’s outgoing chair Paul Bulcke brought forward his departure date and left his post in the same month.
It was reported at the time that investors blamed Mr Bulcke for the company’s ongoing problems.
Last year, an investigation found Nestle baby food products sold in low- and middle-income countries contained unhealthily high levels of sugar.
The research, by a Swiss NGO and the International Baby Food Action Network, found that in many cases, the same products sold in wealthy countries had no added sugar.
Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, said that Mr Navratil “is clearly looking to make his mark on the business”.
“Investors are excited by Navratil’s bold steps and are pleased that the C-suite turmoil appears to be in the rear-view mirror,” she said.
But the challenges ahead of him include tariff pressures, rising debt and stiff competition, she said.
Unite, one of the largest trade unions in the UK, criticised the job cuts and said it would “respond robustly” to any British layoffs.
Nestle has sites in York, Halifax, Dalston and Tutbury, as well as staff at Buxton Water, which it owns.
“Nestle is a profitable company, selling billions of produce every month. Job losses are simply unacceptable,” the union’s general secretary Sharon Graham said.
