Siemens chief plans thousands of job cuts

FRANKFURT: The new head of German conglomerate Siemens plans thousands of job cuts as well as a drive to link the pay of top management closer to performance, according to a newspaper report.

The Financial Times reported on Friday that Siemens new chief executive Peter Loescher wanted to make the changes to narrow the profitability gap with rival General Electric. The paper said without citing sources that details of the plan are likely to be unveiled next week. The conglomerate is due to report third-quarter earnings on Thursday. A Siemens spokesman declined to comment.

“We do not comment on market speculation,” he said. Mr Loescher, who took over as head of Siemens in May, is restructuring the company in the wake of investigations into suspected bribes that may amount to billions of euros, which prompted Siemens’ previous CEO and chairman to resign this year.

From January, Mr Loescher plans to regroup the company’s 10 units into three divisions aligned with global growth trends — infrastructure and industry, energy, and medical technology. The supervisory board is due to meet on November 28 to approve the changes.