Nestle cutting 16,000 jobs worldwide in effort to reduce costs

Nestle is cutting 16,000 jobs globally as part of efforts to revive its financial performance.

The Swiss food giant, which makes Nescafe, KitKats, pet foods and many other well-known consumer brands, said Thursday that the job cuts will take place over the next two years. The company also said that it is raising targeted cost cuts to 3 billion Swiss francs ($5.32 billion Cdn) by the end of next year, up from a planned 2.5 billion Swiss francs ($4.43 billion Cdn).

Nestle Canada did not directly answer questions about what the cuts meant for its Canadian operations.

"The announced workforce reduction applies to markets and functions globally over the next two years," said Catherine O'Brien, senior vice-president at Nestle Canada, in an email.

"It will affect each market in a different wa