Maker of Marmite and Dove soap Unilever is set to slash thousands of jobs around the world a week after its failed $50bn (£37bn) bid for the health division of a rival.

Marmite

Unilever will slash the roles in more than 100 countries, with cuts in the “low thousands” planned by the FMCG giant, according to reporting by the BBC. 

The UK-based FMCG titan, which employs more than 149,000 globally, is set to make the lay-offs as part of a wider restructuring programme designed to make it more competitive. It is unclear where the job cuts will fall, and Unilever currently employs some 6,000 staff across the UK and Republic of Ireland. 

Unilever has come under increasing pressure from investors to accelerate growth and its direction under chief executive Alan Jope has been questioned since its failed $50bn (£37bn) bid for the consumer health division of GlaxoSmithKline last week. 

Unilever said its approach to GSK was a play for a bigger share of the hygiene and healthcare market to offset sluggish growth in its core food business. 

However, GSK, which owns Sensodyne toothpaste and Panadol painkillers, said the bid “fundamentally undervalued” the division and Unilever has ruled out upping its offer. 

It prompted the founder of Fundsmith, one of Unilever’s major investors, Terry Smith to urge the company to focus on the operating performance of its existing businesses “before taking on any more challenges”.

Smith was also critical of Unilever senior management for being “obsessed with publicly displaying sustainability credentials at the expense of focusing on the fundamentals of the business”.

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