Coca-Cola laying off 2,200 workers as it pares brands

The Coca-Cola Company has said that it was laying off 2,200 workers, or 17 percent of its global workforce, as part of a more extensive restructuring to pare down its business units and brands.

The Atlanta-based company said that around half of the layoffs would occur in the US, where Coke employs around 10,400.

The coronavirus pandemic has hammered Coke’s business, as sales at places like stadiums and movie theatres dried up due to lockdowns. Its revenue fell 9 percent to $8.7 billion in the July-September period.

The downturn forced the company to accelerate a restructuring that was already underway.

“We’ve been challenging legacy ways of doing business, and the pandemic helped us realize we could be bolder in our efforts,” Coke Chairman and CEO James Quincey said during an earnings call in October.