Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
On 5 October 2020, the US-based international oil company ExxonMobil announced that it will cut up to 1,600 jobs in Europe by the end of 2021. The jobs cuts equate to more than a tenth of European workforce, but the company does not provide information where exactly jobs losses will take place; so far, ExxonMobil has announced restructuring programmes in Belgium (between 261 and 320 jobs cut) and France (between 190 and 240 jobs cut).
The cuts are a part of cost-cutting measures undertaken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; the company revealed it has been affected by the pandemic significantly as lockdowns caused a drop in demand for oil industry products, the group’s share price has fallen by more than half in 2020 as well as the company recorded a loss of USD 1.1billion (€933 million) in the second quarter of 2020. The company is to improve cost competitiveness.
ExxonMobil is the biggest US oil company by market capitalisation. The company employed about 75,000 people worldwide at the end of 2019. In Europe, the company is active in 16 countries, operating as an oil and gas producer, refiner and petrochemicals maker.
Eurofound (2020), ExxonMobil, Internal restructuring in European Union, factsheet number 102096, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/102096.