Royal Philips Electronics, the world’s largest lighting company, said yesterday that it would eliminate 2,200 jobs globally to save some $384 million as economic conditions continues to worsen, according to Bloomberg.com
Chief Executive Franz van Houten said the measures, designed to address inefficiency in the health-care and lighting divisions, bring the cost-cutting target to 1.1 billion euros by 2014 for Amsterdam-based Philips. The company is targeting an extra 50 million euros in savings for this year, van Houten said, according to Bloomberg.
“I already flagged in July that the economy is in worse shape than before, and that statement actually is pretty accurate,” van Houten told reporters ahead of presentations to investors in London. “This will make us more agile and competitive.”
Van Houten, now in his second year at the helm, is responding to tougher competition and a slowdown in demand. Philips had already targeted 4,500 job losses, and the latest measures will focus predominantly on lighting and health care operations in areas including marketing and information technology, the website reported.
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