ZURICH, October 16, 2025 — Swiss food giant Nestlé has announced plans to cut around 16,000 jobs globally over the next two years as part of a broad restructuring aimed at accelerating transformation and reducing costs. “The world is changing, and Nestlé must change faster,” said the company’s new CEO Philipp Navratil in a corporate statement. The executive emphasized that the decision involved “difficult but necessary measures,” including workforce reductions across global operations, reports 4thebike.de with reference to Nestlé’s official release.
According to the company, Nestlé aims to save one billion Swiss francs annually in personnel costs by the end of 2027. Navratil, who took over leadership of the world’s largest food corporation in early September, raised the total savings target from 2.5 to 3 billion francs. Beyond job cuts, the CEO plans to achieve these goals through digitalization and automation, signaling a significant shift toward more efficient production and management systems.
Nestlé also intends to use the savings to address its debt load of around 60 billion francs. Chief Financial Officer Anna Manz said that debt reduction will likely take several years but remains a core financial priority. She added that part of the required funds will come from the partial or full sale of Nestlé’s mineral water business, which the company has been reviewing for months.
The impact of the planned job cuts on Nestlé’s operations in Germany remains uncertain. A company spokesperson stated that it is too early to provide concrete figures for specific markets. Of the total reductions, 12,000 office jobs and 4,000 positions in production and supply are expected to be affected. Nestlé currently employs about 6,700 people across twelve locations in Germany, while its global workforce stands at roughly 277,000 employees.
Earlier we wrote that French pension reform postponed to 2027 as Lecornu’s government faces no-confidence votes.
