Coca-Cola to slash its global workforce by 2,200 jobs as COVID-19 accelerates restructuring

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) said last week it will slash its global workforce by 2,200 jobs with more than half of them planned for the United States. The company attributed the move to business disruptions in recent months related to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic that has so far infected more than 76 million people worldwide and caused a little under 1.7 million deaths. In an emailed statement, Coca-Cola said:

“The pandemic was not a cause for these changes, but it has been a catalyst for the company to move faster.”

Coca-Cola offered voluntary layoffs to workers in August

Amidst a hit to its sales in recent month, Coca Cola had offered voluntary layoff packages in August to four thousand of its workers in Puerto Rico, Canada, and the United States. The American multinational, however, is yet to disclose how many of them accepted the package.

In a report published in October, Coca-Cola said its net income slid to £1.33 billion in the fiscal third quarter versus the year-ago figure of £1.98 billion, as the ongoing COVID-19 crisis weighed on demand. The U.S. company adopted DLT and Ethereum to improve its supply chain in August.

Coca-Cola closed almost flat on the weekly chart on Friday. At £39.71 per share, the Atlanta-based company’s shares are now 2.5% down year to date in the stock market after recovering from a sharply lower £27.78 per share in late March, when the impact of the pandemic was at its peak.

Coca-Cola didn’t give the timeline for the announced layoff

The U.S. beverage corporation refrained on Thursday from highlighting the timeline when the announced layoff will be implemented. According to Coca-Cola, its global workforce comprised of roughly 86,200 employees at the start of the year. 10,400 of these workers, as per the company, were based in the United States.

The world’s 3^rd largest beverage company also highlighted in its announcement on Thursday that close to 500 jobs that are to be slashed as part of its restructuring will be in Atlanta Metropolitan Area – where it is headquartered. On Tuesday, Coca-Cola European partners invested in countertop dispensing machine company, Lavit.

Coca-Cola performed fairly upbeat in the stock market last year with an annual gain of a little under 20%. At the time of writing, it is valued at £170.78 billion and has a price to earnings ratio of 27.87.