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Food and beverage giant Nestlé announced it will remove sixteen thousand jobs over the next two years, as its new CEO Philipp Navratil pushes a plan to prioritize products offering the “most lucrative outcomes”.

The Swiss company needs to “evolve at a quicker pace” to keep pace with a evolving marketplace and implement a “performance mindset” that rejects declining competitive position, said Mr Navratil.

He took over from former CEO Laurent Freixe, who was terminated in last fall.

These workforce reductions were made public on the fourth weekday as Nestlé shared stronger performance metrics for the first three-quarters of 2025, with increased product movement across its primary segments, such as hot drinks and snacks.

The world's largest food & beverage firm, Nestlé operates hundreds of labels, including well-known names in coffee and snacks.

Nestlé aims to get rid of twelve thousand professional roles alongside 4,000 other roles company-wide during the next biennium, it said in a statement.

These job cuts will save the food giant about CHF 1 billion annually as within an ongoing cost-savings effort, it stated.

The company's stock value rose seven and a half percent following its trading update and job cuts were revealed.

The CEO commented: “We are fostering a culture that welcomes a results-driven attitude, that will not abide market share declines, and where achievement is incentivized... The marketplace is evolving, and the company requires accelerated transformation.”

Such change would involve “hard but necessary choices to trim the workforce,” he noted.

Equity analyst an industry specialist remarked the announcement signalled that the new CEO aims to “bring greater transparency to areas that were previously more opaque in Nestlé's cost-saving plans.”

These layoffs, she noted, appear to be an attempt to “recalibrate projections and restore shareholder trust through tangible steps.”

His forerunner was sacked by Nestlé in early September after an investigation into whistleblower allegations that he omitted to reveal a romantic relationship with a junior employee.

Its departing chairman the ex-chairman brought forward his departure date and left his post in the same month.

It was reported at the moment that shareholders attributed responsibility to the outgoing leader for the company's ongoing problems.

The previous year, an inquiry revealed infant nutrition items from the company sold in low- and middle-income countries contained undesirably high quantities of sugar.

The research, by a Swiss NGO and the International Baby Food Action Network, established that in numerous instances, the equivalent goods available in developed nations had no extra sugars.

• Nestlé manages hundreds of brands worldwide.
• Layoffs will involve 16,000 employees during the coming 24 months.
• Cost reductions are projected to amount to 1bn SFr annually.
• Equity climbed seven and a half percent after the news.