Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
The agro-food group Danone has announced 2,000 job cuts worldwide, including nearly 400 in France. These job cuts are part of a €1 billion savings plan designed to regain the confidence of shareholders while the share has lost more than a quarter of its value by 2020.
The group is suffering the effects of the COVID-19 crisis due to restaurant closures and lockdowns, which are driving down its sales of bottled water, especially the smaller, more lucrative formats. But the objective, in this group which pursues the 'dual economic and social project' of its founder, is also to improve its profitability, to reach an operating margin of between 15 and 20%.
The majority of the savings, that is €700 million, will come from a reduction in general and administrative expenses, with a reduction in employees' numbers that will mainly affect head offices. Danone will move from a global product category organisation to a country organisation.
A former reorganisation was recorded in 2013, with 236 job cuts.
Updated, 01/04/2021: Instead of the 2,000 job cuts, the new management has revised the reorganisation and announced 1,850 job cuts worldwide, including 458 in France. The plan is expected to be implemented gradually in 2021 and 2022.
Updated, 09/09/2021:After months of negotiations, Danone's French employee representatives, with the exception of the CGT which is in the minority in the group, have signed an agreement with the management. It is much less drastic than initially planned and should result in about 300 net job cuts, instead of 458.
Eurofound (2020), Danone, Internal restructuring in France, factsheet number 102696, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/102696.
This working paper offers a comprehensive methodological overview of the European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) databases. Even though the methodology has not changed over time, new categories have been added, and the way it has been used by researchers and policymakers...
This Eurofound research paper explores key trends in restructuring in recent years, highlighting the companies that announced the largest job losses and job gains in the EU. It builds on an analysis of company announcements recorded in Eurofound’s European Restructuring...
In 2023, thousands of workers in big tech lost their jobs. Meta, Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft and Salesforce had been considered to offer good and secure jobs up to this point. Giants of the information and communication technology (ICT) sector,...
In 2024, the automotive sector in the EU came to the fore in public and policy discussions. The focus was on the slowdown in electric vehicle (EV) sales, rising global competition, belated investments in new technologies, and the potential closure...
The more employee monitoring resembles surveillance – with its systematic, continuous and detailed tracking of employees' activities, behaviours or communications – the greater the potential for infringement of both privacy and data protection rights. Although the EU General Data Protection...
Since 2013, Eurofound's ERM database on restructuring-related legislation has been documenting regulatory developments in the Member States of the European Union and Norway which are explicitly or implicitly linked to anticipating and managing change. The most recent update to the...
