Coca-Cola set to cut more than 2,000 jobs including 1,200 in US

Coca-Cola will cut nearly 2,200 jobs worldwide, with 1,200 jobs in the United States expected to be cut due to declining sales amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Job cuts in the U.S. will represent nearly 12 percent of the nearly 10,400 jobs that the company reported at the end of last year. Five hundred jobs at the beverage corporation’s headquarters in Atlanta are expected to be eliminated as well, CNN reported.

Voluntary and involuntary departures are expected, costing Coca-Cola between $350 million and $550 million in severance packages. The company also has plans to scale back from 17 operating businesses in four regions to just nine, according to CNN.

Coca-Cola has been preparing for cutbacks since this summer, when it offered buyouts to nearly 4,000 employees in Canada and the U.S. Earlier this year, the brand also announced that it would be discontinuing Tab, Odwalla and Zico, the news outlet reported.

Nearly 86,200 people were reported to have worked for Coca-Cola last year.