Page 160 - CW E-Magazine (4-2-2025)

News from Abroad

STREAMLINING OPERATIONS
BP to reduce 5% of workforce in bid to cut $2-bn

in costs by 2026

UK energy major, BP, will cut over and Hungary. “We have got more we
5 percent of its global workforce, as need to do through this year, next year
part of CEO Mr. Murray Auchincloss’ and beyond, but we are making strong
efforts to reduce costs and rebuild progress as we position BP to grow as
investor confidence in the firm. a simpler, more focused, higher-value
company,” Mr. Auchincloss said in the
Around 4,700 employees and 3,000 memo.
contractor positions will be cut this BP will undergo reviews across all
year, according to a report by Reuters. departments before laying off its em- Mr. Auchincloss will reveal the
The cuts were announced in an internal ployees. It currently employs around company’s new strategy on February
memo, the report added. 90,000 people worldwide. The exact 26, 2025, on an investor presentation
breakdown of the job cuts has not day. He is working on reversing the
Mr. Auchincloss had mentioned been disclosed by BP. However, per company’s previous strategy of ag-
last year that the company aims to re- Reuters, approximately 1,100 roles gressively investing in renewables and
duce costs by at least $2-bn by the end are anticipated to be eliminated from cleaner energy solutions while moving
of 2026. He was also seeking to restore BP’s technology division. These away from its traditional oil & gas busi-
confidence following the abrupt resigna- job cuts will be implemented either ness. He aims to focus on BP’s tradi-
tion of his predecessor, Bernard Looney, through redundancies or by transfer- tional oil & gas business to increase
in September 2023 for failing to disclose ring work from the US and the UK to its profitability while scaling back its
relationships with employees. other countries like Malaysia, India exposure to renewables.
BOARDROOM BATTLES
Activist investor Mantle Ridge wins three seats on

Air Products board

Shareholders of US-based industrial For now, the company said
gases firm, Air Products and Chemi- Mr. Ghasemi will remain CEO. The board
cals, handed victory to activist investor, will promptly appoint a new board
Mantle Ridge Capital Management, chair and discuss succession planning.
who had pushed the company to re- It welcomed the newcomers, thanked
place its 80-year-old CEO, by electing the outgoing directors and said it ap-
three new directors and unseating the preciated engaging with shareholders
CEO from the board. during the proxy fight.
fiercely contested board battles in re-
The company said preliminary tal- cent memory, with a CEO facing off The vote may embolden other
lies showed investors elected three of against an investor who had helped put activists to start corporate fights if man-
Mantle Ridge’s four director candidates him on the board more than a decade agement and boards do not listen to the
to the company’s nine-member board. ago in an earlier battle with another agitators.
They did not elect CEO Seiffolah Gha- activist investor. The outcome, which
semi, who had also been the board bankers and lawyers called a resound- For months, Mantle Ridge founder
chair, lead director Edward Monser nor ing win for Mantle Ridge, raises ques- Mr. Paul Hilal, the board nominees and
long-serving director Charles Cogut. tions about Mr. Ghasemi’s future at Air industry executive Mr. Eduardo Men-
Products as it is highly unusual for a ezes crisscrossed the country to press
The vote ended one of the most CEO to be voted off his own board. their case with mutual funds, pension

160 Chemical Weekly February 4, 2025

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