Background: Nestlé is the world’s biggest food and beverage company, home to household names like KitKat, Nescafé, Purina, Häagen-Dazs, and Nespresso. In fact, it owns over 2,000 brands across 188 countries, so Nestlé is basically everywhere.

What happened: Now, Nestlé's new CEO has just announced plans to cut 16,000 jobs, or about 6% of its global workforce, over the next two years. The move follows a 1.9% dip in sales to 65.9 billion Swiss francs, which sent investors into panic mode.

What else: The company says the layoffs are part of a plan to save 3 billion francs by 2027 and “boost innovation” under its new CEO… though what that innovation looks like is still anyone’s guess.

What's the key learning?

💡A new CEO often means a company-wide reboot. It’s the corporate version of “new year, new me,” and usually comes with strategy resets, restructures, and job cuts.

💡New leaders want to show quick results and signal change to both the market and their teams, often by cutting costs and reshaping priorities to prove they’re serious about turning things around.

💡We’ve seen this playbook before... like ANZ’s new CEO cutting 3,500 roles and scrapping an $800 million share buyback. For Nestlé’s new chief, the first step to growth is getting smaller, and investors seem on board with that move.