A major sports beverage maker is just the latest household name to slash its workforce.
PepsiCo, parent company of Gatorade, is laying off hundreds of employees, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The cuts were weighted more toward the company’s beverage sector than its snacks unit, which already reduced its workforce via a voluntary retirement program.
- The company had roughly 309,000 global employees one year ago, including around 129,000 people in the U.S.
- PepsiCo brought in $22 billion in the fiscal quarter ending Sept. 3, beating analysts’ expectations with a 9% year-over-year increase.
- Net income rose 21.5% to $2.7 billion in the quarter.
The food and beverage giant, which also owns Frito Lay and Quaker Oats, among others, has leaned into energy drinks recently.
PepsiCo followed its $3.85 billion acquisition of Rockstar in 2020 with July’s $550 million investment in Celsius Holdings, which makes fitness-focused energy drinks. It also launched a caffeinated version of Gatorade in August in collaboration with the NFL.
Tech Trend
Headlines announcing layoffs have been a familiar sight of late due to big cutbacks in the tech sector. Amazon is shedding around 20,000 employees, while Meta let go of around 11,000.
Google is following suit with plans to lay off around 10,000 employees.
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