Nestlé closes Irish factory, sells its North American Water business and axes 16,000 jobs.
Nestle to axe 16,000 jobs as new boss pushes to cut costs Osmond Chia. 16 October 2025, 08:19 BST
Food and beverage giant Nestle said it will cut 16,000 jobs over the next two years, as its new CEO Philipp Navratil pushes to focus on products with the “highest potential returns”.
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The share price of Nestlé, the world’s largest packaged food company, has dropped by approx 35% since 2022 and its new CEO, Philipp Navratil, is introducing a restructuring drive in an effort to win back investors. Navratil is arguing that Nestlé needs to “change faster” to remain competitive in a rapidly evolving global market. Among the many factors cited for the crisis, is the Public Eye and IBFAN investigation that exposed Nestlé’s double standard in relation to sugar levels in baby foods. [ii]
Nestle is reported to be planning to axe 16,000 jobs over the next 2 years – 5.8% of its 277,000 employees – and to focus on products with the “highest potential returns.” The company has already sold its North American bottled water assets (worth $5billion) and is considering spinning off its remaining global water and premium beverage brands into a standalone business.[I].
IBFAN shares the concerns about the job losses and restructuring that may result in the erosion of workers’ rights. However Nestlé’s crisis serves must surely be a lesson for policy makers who allow industry to influence policy-making decisions. The economic and employment “benefits” for any host country exist only as long as the company profits. This is an important story that illustrates the h.ollowness of corporate promises of jobs. The economic “benefits” for the host country exist only as long as the company profits and can vanish when production can be found at lower cost.”
“…..Last year, an investigation found Nestle baby food products sold in low- and middle-income countries contained unhealthily high levels of sugar. The research, by a Swiss NGO and the International Baby Food Action Network, found that in many cases, the same products sold in wealthy countries had no added sugar….”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2nl5l0d5eo#:~:text=Food%20and%20beverage%20giant%20Nestle,the%20%22highest%20potential%20returns%22.
“There was good wages, which meant that the town flourished,” said Mr. Ranahan who remembered his mother receiving tins of baby food from neighbors when he was young. “But,” he added, “there was always the possibility that it could be yanked away at any second.”
Today, we are announcing a proposal to cease operations in our Wyeth Nutrition infant formula factory in Askeaton, Co Limerick, Ireland by Q1 2026. We propose to close the co-located R&D centre by Q1 2025.
We will now consult with all employees and their representative unions. Regrettably, today’s announcement means approximately 542 colleagues will be placed at risk of redundancy.
The facilities were part of Nestlé’s acquisition of Pfizer Nutrition in 2012. Operating as Wyeth Nutritionals Ireland Ltd (WNIL), the factory manufactures infant formula products exclusively for export to markets in Greater China and Asia. The factory currently employs 491 people. The R&D facility employs 51 people.
External trends have significantly impacted demand for infant nutrition products in the Greater China region. The number of new-born babies in China has declined sharply from some 18 million per year in 2016 to fewer than 9 million1 projected in 2023. The market, which had previously been reliant on imported infant formula products, is also seeing rapid growth in locally-produced products.
To adapt to those changes we are proposing to transfer the production from Askeaton to two existing factories – Suzhou, Mainland China and Konolfingen, Switzerland.
Konolfingen is also home to Wyeth and Nestlé Nutrition’s global R&D centre of excellence for infant and maternal products. It is proposed that R&D work at Askeaton would be absorbed into Konolfingen, where 365 colleagues work on research and product development across several disciplines, and a satellite R&D centre in Shanghai would be strengthened.
These proposals have been carefully considered and are no reflection on the excellent contribution made by our employees in Askeaton over many years.
To date, we have not been able to find a buyer. Therefore, we will commence a meaningful consultation process with our employees on a proposed closure. In parallel, during this consultation we remain open to approaches from a credible buyer.
We regret the uncertainty this announcement will cause our colleagues and their families, and we will make sure they are supported fully throughout this process.
https://www.nestle.co.uk/en-gb/media/pressreleases/proposal-operations-ireland
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NEW YORK TIMES. IRELAND DISPATCH
Askeaton, Ireland. Oct. 9, 2025 7:39 min Learn more
An Irish Factory Town Prospered With China. Now, Its ‘Jewel in the Crown’ Is Leaving
Alexandra Stevenson is the Shanghai bureau chief for The Times, reporting on China’s economy and society.
China’s baby boom enriched a small Irish town where a Nestlé factory made formula for Chinese newborns. Then a baby bust unraveled it all. Or so it seemed. Tim Hanley at his dairy farm in western Ireland, near a Nestlé factory to which he provided milk for infant formula sold in China.
The powder was so lucrative that some people here called it cocaine. The men and women making pricey infant formula for Chinese babies at a factory in Askeaton, a small town in the southwestern Irish county of Limerick, had helped to turn around the fortunes of a place long overlooked.So when the people in suits unexpectedly arrived from Switzerland two years ago to deliver a death blow to the more than 540 workers employed at the plant, the first reaction was disbelief. No one could believe that Nestlé, a multinational food giant, would simply shutter a sophisticated plant into which it had invested hundreds of millions of dollars.
“All of a sudden, the factory looked drab,” said Carmel Ryan, the unofficial town historian who runs the Askeaton Tourist Office and whose husband, Michael, worked at the factory for 34 years before retiring. “It was like the sunlight was gone from behind it.”…..more
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/09/world/europe/ireland-china-nestle-baby-formula.html?unlocked_article_code=1.sE8.2_aE.YriqhqTfwApf&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare