Exclusive: Sanofi considers job cuts as CEO seeks to reduce costs – sources

By Matthias Blamont

PARIS (Reuters) – Sanofi is considering cutting hundreds of jobs and will discuss potential steps with staff representatives over the coming days, four sources said on Thursday, the latest move by the French drugmaker’s chief executive Paul Hudson to cut costs.

Management will meet staff representatives on Friday and Monday next week to outline a restructuring plan, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. They declined to be identified as the plan is still confidential.

Officials with Sanofi had no immediate comment.

The reorganisation could involve several European countries and possibly others outside the region, as well as all the divisions of Sanofi except the vaccines and rare diseases unit Genzyme, the sources said.

Two sources said around 1,000 jobs in France were at risk.

The discussions come after Hudson announced in December plans to cut 2 billion euros ($2.24 billion) in costs by 2022. He joined the company in September.

“The COVID-19 (pandemic) had slowed the announcement, but (the measures) are part of the CEO roadmap,” one of the sources said.

(Reporting by Matthias Blamont; Writing by Josephine Mason; Editing by Edmund Blair and Jon Boyle)