The drop in sales has led the company to cut thousands of jobs and halve the number of its divisions.
One of the largest companies in the world, like many others, has been affected by the pandemic. In the second quarter, Coca-Cola sales fell 28% to $7.2 billion. Against the backdrop of such a catastrophic drop in sales, the manufacturer is forced to take action and cut costs by all available means.
Coca-Cola announced that it is starting a program of job cuts. At the first stage, it is planned to resort to the so-called voluntary cuts. 4,000 employees in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico will be offered cash compensation for voluntary leave, then the same conditions will be announced to workers in other countries.
In this way, the company hopes to reduce the volume of forced layoffs, but this step still cannot be completely avoided. The exact number of jobs that will be cut is generally not reported, but it is estimated that the cost of severance pay for workers could range from $350 to 550 million. The number of employees of the company at the beginning of 2020 was more than 86,000.
The company also said it plans to reduce the number of its operating units from 17 to 9 worldwide. Also in the plans Coca-Cola in the coming period to focus on its most popular products, including the main line of Coca-Cola and products such as sports drinks, coffee and tea. Many of the experimental brands will be phased out, as has already happened with smoothie brand Odwalla. It is also planned to develop such growing categories as carbonated waters and plant-based drinks.
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