Dive Brief:
- Coca-Cola will cut between 1,000 and 2,000 jobs across the company in the next few weeks, according to the Wall Street Journal.
- The world's largest soft drink company is also looking to lower expenses by canceling holiday parties, telling executives to cut back on limousine use, etc. The layoffs and other cuts are tied to a $3 billion cost-cutting initiative announced in October.
- Coke has also said it will introduce zero-based budgeting for its managers in 2015, requiring them to justify expenses on an annual basis.
Dive Insight:
Sources told the Journal that layoff notices for North American workers will go out Jan. 8. International staff will learn who lost their jobs on Jan. 15. Until then, there's little for workers at the company to do other than wait and worry.
But Wall Street has its doubts that even when the cuts are made and expenses are reduced, Coke will turn a corner. Shares in the company have fallen more than 2% since the cost-cutting plan was announced. And as one analyst told the Journal, the famously inefficient Coca-Cola would need to make closer to $4 billion in cuts in order to reach the operating efficiencies of its competitors.