Chemical company
Biggest restructuring in company history: Evonik is cutting up to 7,000 jobs
The Essen-based chemical company Evonik is facing drastic measures. Of the 32,000 jobs, 7,000 could be eliminated, and two board members will also leave.
Evonik boss Christian Kullmann wants to make the Essen-based chemical company leaner and more powerful and is therefore ordering the company to undergo the biggest restructuring in its history. In the new structure, Evonik will stand on two pillars in the future, the group announced on Friday.
The two new segments, Custom Solutions and Advanced Technologies, currently have annual sales of around six billion euros each. Kullmann has also already initiated savings programs, which will result in around 2,000 job losses.
Evonik is repositioning itself
Businesses with around 3,600 employees at the Marl and Wesseling locations are also to be separated; they could possibly be brought into joint ventures or sold, said the Evonik boss.
In total, including sales programs that are already running, Evonik could shed around 7,000 of the current 32,000 jobs.
The restructuring also affects the board – and management. The two new business lines have the American Lauren Kjeldsen and the French Claudine Mollenkopf on the board. However, the board members Harald Schwager and Johann-Caspar Gammelin will be leaving. Evonik also wants to eliminate an entire management level in its operational business.
Reuters
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Source: Stern
