PepsiCo Incorporated has announced plans to slash as many as 8,700 jobs worldwide as the beverage giant increases its marketing spending by $600 million to offset declining sales. The announcement came in the wake of a new report by the Food and Beverage People Media group that found the industry added more than 57,000 jobs in the U.S. in January.
New York-based PepsiCo said the job cuts, which represent approximately 3 percent of its total global workforce, and other cost cutting measures will save the company $1.5 billion by 2014, according to Bloomberg.
"Running a large company is like doing a car race," PepsiCo's chief executive officer Indra Nooyi said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. "Occasionally, you have to stop and refuel yourself in the pit stop, and that is what we’re doing in 2012."
Meanwhile, Food and Beverage People Media Group, publisher of the weekly industry newsletter News Kernels, said the sector accounted for nearly one quarter of the nation's job growth in January.
Based on numbers of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the organization said the industry created 57,700 jobs last month, including positions at grocery stores, restaurants and food and beverage manufacturers.