Yesterday, Coty Inc. announced a major strategic overhaul that includes cutting up to 700 jobs. The move comes as the company revisits its “All-in to Win” program, a cost-cutting initiative originally launched during fiscal year 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“With the cyclical and structural changes in the beauty industry and the global economy in recent years, Coty must once again adapt and evolve,” said Coty CEO Sue Nabi. These changes include the rapid rise of e-commerce, the consolidation of retail channels, and new consumer behaviors around brand discovery.
As part of the restructuring, Coty plans to streamline its organizational structure in key markets to improve operational efficiency, enhance the effectiveness of support functions, increase innovation output, and reduce non-people-related fixed costs across all areas of spending. The company expects the initiative to generate approximately $130 million in annual fixed cost savings before taxes, with one-time cash costs of about $80 million.
Meanwhile, another beauty and personal care giant, Unilever, also referenced workforce reductions in its latest earnings report released yesterday. It stated that the productivity program launched in 2024 aims to simplify the business and further develop its category-focused model. As of the end of Q1 2024, Unilever had already reduced its full-time workforce by approximately 6,000 employees, with the program expected to save around €550 million by the end of 2025.
In addition, both L’Oréal and Estée Lauder recently announced job cuts. According to reports, L’Oréal’s China travel retail division is planning layoffs, with the proportion possibly reaching as high as 50%. The decision is largely due to weak performance in the domestic travel retail channel over the past two years.
Meanwhile, Estée Lauder stated in its fiscal Q2 2025 earnings report that, as part of its corporate restructuring plan, the group will cut between 5,800 and 7,000 jobs in an effort to revive sales growth under the leadership of its new CEO. This marks the company’s largest round of layoffs in nearly a decade.
