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Ludswighafen: One more big name has joined the bandwagon of the layoff drive. A German chemical giant BASF SE will layoff 2600 employees globally. The company that makes chemicals and is a big name in the industry has confirmed to be cutting around 2 per cent of its global workforce. In a bid to save cost, the firm has panned to close some factories, fertilizer facilities and two ammonium plants as per Bloomberg report.
This winding down of factories will let alone cut 700 jobs in Germany’s Ludswighafen plant. It is the main plant for the company. It is also terminating a share buyback program ahead of time due to the deterioration in the global economy.
“Europe’s competitiveness is increasingly suffering from overregulation, slow and bureaucratic permitting processes, and in particular, high costs for most production input factors,” BASF Chief Executive Officer Martin Brudermüller said in a statement. “High energy prices are now putting an additional burden on profitability and competitiveness in Europe.”
As per Bloomberg report, the company has also suffered several blows from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that exposed decades-old ties as a wrong bet. BASF had helped fund construction of both Nord Stream pipelines via its Wintershall Dea subsidiary. Cutting ties with the venture in January prompted a €7.3 billion writedown and a historic loss for BASF, which also operated joint ventures with Gazprom PJSC and others.
BASF last month unveiled a 7.3 billion euro writedown for 2022 on the value of its Wintershall Dea energy business, which is pulling out of Russia, Reuters reported.
Previously, the company said it is targeting annual cost cuts of €500 million as it doesn’t expect gas prices to return to pre-war levels. BASF’s gas bill surged by €2.2 billion ($2.3 billion) last year compared to 2021, even as consumption fell by 35%.
More jobs will be affected but the affect on workers would be tempered as new positions would be created, reports Economic Times
Recently there have several big names in the list who have sacked several employees all across the globe. There were new reports of more layoff at Meta. Meanwhile, companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft and many others are facing economic challenges due to which they had to cut down on their workforce.
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