Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is considering up to 10,000 job cuts, in a move to reduce expenses and ease its debt burden, according to Bloomberg.
The pharmaceutical giant, which has nearly $35 billion of debt, is aiming to reduce costs by $1.5 billion to $2 billion in the next two years. A little less than half of the cost reductions would come from cuts in research and development spending.
While a decision has not yet been made on the number of layoffs, a range of 5,000 to 10,000, or about 15 percent of its workforce is being discussed, according to the report. It is not clear which locations would be affected.
At the end of 2016, the drugmaker employed nearly 57,000 people globally — including more than 10,000 in the U.S., 24,000 in Europe and 6,800 in Israel.