Coca-Cola announced job cuts for as many as 1,200 corporate employees as the company revealed a continued first quater sales slump in sodas, its largest product category.
The job cuts come later this year as an expansion to Coca-Cola's cost-cutting program, reported the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The soft drink giant made the announcement during a first-quarter earnings discussion with investors on Tuesday after it said overall sales were down 11 percent from a year ago while profits fell 20 percent, reported CNN.
"We expect to see changes throughout our corporate organization, including Atlanta and elsewhere, as we fundamentally change the way we work to be faster, more agile and more efficient," Coca-Cola spokesman Kent Landers told the Journal-Constitution. “While we don't yet know the exact impact in Atlanta, we expect it will be a significant percentage of the total.”
Landers said the job cuts would come from about 5,500 corporate employees who work in or report to Coca-Cola's Atlanta headquarters.
Coca-Cola's president and chief operating officer James Quincey, who will become chief executive officer on May 1, said in a statement that the job reductions will lead to a "leaner corporate organization."
CNN said Coca-Cola has continued to stumble in trying to respond to the changing taste of customers away from sugary drinks. The company has been trying to build its other items, like water, milk, and soy-based drinks.
"As we further transform into a total beverage company, we are shifting to what we are calling a 'category cluster' model to focus on growth across five strategic beverage categories – sparkling soft drinks; energy; juice, dairy and plant-based drinks; water, enhanced water and sports drinks; and tea and coffee," said Quincey.
"While we've competed in each of these categories at various levels around the world for years, we are now being more disciplined about our investments across these categories globally in order to broaden our consumer-centric portfolio."
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