Despite weight loss injection under pressure: Novo Nordisk announces massive job cuts

Bagsværd. The market success of its GLP-1 agonist semaglutide as a "weight loss injection" ( ^Wegovy® ) brought Novo Nordisk exorbitant market capitalization last year. For a time, the Danish insulin specialist was the most valuable company in Europe. However, its stock has been on a downward spiral for some time.

Now management is pulling the plug: Around 9,000 jobs are to be cut worldwide, including 5,000 in Denmark alone, as the company announced today, Wednesday. According to the company, Novo Nordisk currently employs 78,400 people.

Implementation of the savings program will begin immediately, the company said. Starting in 2027, it is expected to result in annual savings of approximately 8.0 billion Danish kroner (just under 1.1 billion euros). The released funds will be used for R&D projects, sales activities, and an expansion of production in the portfolio focus areas of diabetes and obesity.

“Becoming faster and more agile”

In the short term, the restructuring will cost approximately 9.0 billion kroner in the third quarter of this year, with initial savings of over 1.0 billion kroner expected as early as the fourth quarter. The forecast for operating profit growth for the full year has been cut by six points and now stands at +4.0 to +10.0 percent.

The company further cited Novo Nordisk's "rapid expansion" of recent years as the reason for the job cuts, saying it "led to increased organizational complexity and higher costs." CEO Mike Doustdar, who has only been in office for a month, stated, "We need to change our mindset and approach to become faster and more agile."

According to reports, US manufacturer Eli Lilly, in particular, is successfully challenging the Danish company's market share in the anti-obesity market with its competing weight-loss injection ^Zepbound® (tirzepatide). (cw)