Novo Nordisk to Cut 9,000 Jobs Globally in Major Restructuring
Novo Nordisk announced a global workforce reduction of approximately 9,000 positions to streamline operations and reinvest DKK 8 billion (€1 billion) in growth opportunities for diabetes and obesity treatments, impacting its 2025 profit outlook with a significant one-off restructuring cost.
Novo Nordisk announced a company-wide restructuring to simplify its organisation, improve the speed of decision-making, and reallocate resources towards the company’s growth opportunities in diabetes and obesity. The company is cutting about 9,000 jobs—over 11% of its staff—to cut costs, simplify its structure, and free up money to invest in diabetes and obesity medicines.
The change reflects the company’s commitment to meet rising global demand while also competing in a more dynamic and consumer-driven obesity market, as evidenced by the recent slowdown in growth. Over the past years, Novo Nordisk’s rapid scaling has increased organizational complexity and costs.
Mike Doustdar, Novo Nordisk president and CEO, said: “As the global leader in obesity and diabetes, Novo Nordisk delivers life-changing products for patients worldwide. But our markets are evolving, particularly in obesity, as it has become more competitive and consumer-driven. Our company must evolve as well. This means instilling an increased performance-based culture, deploying our resources ever more effectively, and prioritising investment where it will have the most impact – behind our leading therapy areas.”
Shift in Investment Priorities
The workforce reduction is expected across the company, including staff areas and headquarters functions, and is expected to deliver total annualised savings of around DKK 8 billion (€1 billion) by the end of 2026. The savings will be redirected to growth opportunities in diabetes and obesity, including commercial execution initiatives and R&D programmes. The implementation will begin immediately, and the company expects to communicate with affected employees over the next few months, pending negotiations as per local legal labour market requirements. Further, additional initiatives are to be implemented to enhance organisational focus, performance culture, and speed of decision-making, as well as cost efficiencies.
Novo Nordisk President and CEO Mike Doustdar added: “It is always difficult to see talented and valued colleagues go, but we are convinced that this is the right thing to do for the long-term success of Novo Nordisk. We need a shift in our mindset and approach so we can be faster and more agile. Our transformation plan is designed to deliver this. By realigning our resources now, we will be able to prioritise investments to drive sustainable growth and future innovation for the millions of patients with chronic diseases globally, particularly in diabetes and obesity.”
