H.J. Heinz Co., the world's reigning ketchup making company recently acquired by Warren Buffett, announced on Tuesday that it will cut 600 jobs in North America and Canada.
Two months after Heinz went private, following Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Jorge Paulo Lemann's 3G Capital buyout of the condiment maker, the company decided to drastically slash hundreds of primarily white-collar office jobs. Over half of the layoffs will be made for jobs in Pittsburgh at Heinz headquarters, according to Bloomberg.
In an email statement from Heinz spokesperson Michael Mullen, 800 people working in the Pennsylvania city will still be employed, while 6,000 other workers across the nation also will retain their positions within the company.
He said that these cutbacks "will better position the company to support and fund our next chapter. Our new organizational structure will simplify, strengthen and leverage the company's global scale, while enabling faster decision making, increased accountability and accelerated growth."
Mullen also told CBS Local in Pittsburgh that Heinz alerted their employees of the job loss Tuesday morning, and that the company will give higher severance packages to laid off workers.
"We regret the impact this has on Heinz employees and their families," the statement continued.
Heinz's main location will remain in Pittsburgh, Mullen added.
"We look forward to continuing to call Pittsburgh our home, as it has been for 144 years."
This past June, Warren Buffet and Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital struck up a $23.3 billion deal with the company, making the move to privatization with a contractual agreement, CBS reported.
