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Unilever to lay off 1,500 employees as part of restructuring drive

The news comes after the creator of Magnum ice cream and Dove soap failed with a £50-billion buyout deal for GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer's consumer health care unit.
 

Unilever to lay off 1500 employees as part of restructuring drive gcw
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New Delhi, First Published Jan 25, 2022, 7:05 PM IST

Unilever announced plans on Tuesday to slash around 1,500 managerial posts globally as part of a significant overhaul of the British consumer products conglomerate. The news comes after the creator of Magnum ice cream and Dove soap failed with a £50-billion buyout deal for GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer's consumer health care unit. Unilever stated that their "proposed new organisational model will result in a 15% reduction in senior management posts." It also said that junior managerial positions would be reduced by 5%.

The reductions totalled "approximately 1,500 posts internationally." Unilever intends to divide its operations into five different divisions: Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care, Home Care, Nutrition, and Ice Cream. "Each business group will be entirely responsible and accountable for its global strategy, growth, and profit performance," the company stated. "Growth remains our top focus, and these adjustments will support our pursuit of this," said CEO Alan Jope, who has received investor criticism over the recent failed bid.

Last week, the consortium said that it would not enhance its bid for the GlaxoSmithKline-Pfizer business. This occurred after GSK revealed that Unilever had made three unsolicited proposals for GSK Consumer Healthcare, all of which were rejected as being too low.

Unilever claimed that the move has been in the works for a year is similar to what archrival Procter & Gamble (P&G) did three years ago when it launched six identical business segments in its biggest substantial reorganisation two decades. "Moving to five category-focused business divisions will allow us to be more responsive to consumer and channel developments, with crystal-clear accountability for execution," stated Unilever CEO Alan Jope.

Unilever, whose stock has dropped nearly 13% in the last year, effectively abandoned ambitions to purchase GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) consumer healthcare unit for 50 billion pounds last week (USD 67 billion).

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