Anheuser-Busch InBev NV’s U.S. division cut about 90 jobs in its sales division Thursday, including several vice presidents, some 350 other layoffs are occur in the coming months as part of the company’s restructuring, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The job reductions linked to the reorganization are intended to help the world’s largest beer maker save about $90 million annually.
The company based in Leuven, Belgium, said Tuesday that it would restructure its U.S. operations, which are based in St. Louis. Jim Brickey, vice president for people at the company’s U.S. division, said in a statement Thursday that Anheuser had eliminated “a small number of salaried sales employees in St. Louis and other locations.”
Anheuser, which controls nearly half of all U.S. beer sales, recently hired consulting firm Accenture to help it increase efficiency. Despite a large profit over the past year the company is facing declining sales for big beer brands such as Bud Light and Budweiser.
“These are always difficult decisions to make,” Brickey said. “As an ongoing practice, we assess our resources to assure they reflect our current business strategies and needs that will drive long-term growth.”
Among those let go Thursday were a number of vice presidents who work closely with large retail customers in the grocery and convenience-store segments.
The company said in an internal memorandum this week that it will revamp its brand marketing group to have more employees focused on its major beer products and also plans to add three new regional sales offices-in St. Louis, Denver and Charlotte, N.C.-to its five existing offices, to allow regional managers to spend more time with distributors and retailers. Anheuser also will integrate the sales departments of its company-owned distributors into the brewer’s sales division, the Wall Street Journal reported.
