The elimination of 2,000 jobs or 10 per cent of the Vestel workforce has been described by the company as a move that will increase – not reduce – production capacity within the business.
Bloomberg has reported that Zorlu Holdings, one of Turkey’s largest companies will cut 2,000 jobs at Vestel Elektronik to improve efficiency in a move that has since been confirmed by the company’s CEO, Ömer Yüngül.
Bloomberg claims that Zorlu is investigating asset sales and job cuts in one of the largest corporate restructures in the country’s history to also address debt of $US5 billion and alleviate concerns from investors.
“Laying off two thousand people is right, but it is entirely for efficiency. Layoffs of 2,000 people at Vestel will not negatively affect production capacity, on the contrary, it will increase,” Yüngül told Bloomberg.
“We are a group with strong exports, and we will be better with efficiency. Our goal is to be more effective in markets outside Europe, especially in the U.S. market,” he added.
Yüngül said he identified opportunities relating to the tariff war with China and has targeted North America as a market with growth prospects.
Zorlu’s businesses range from companies in real estate to energy and manufacturing. The company earlier this year also underwent a leadership change as former chief executive Cem Köksal stepped down following an investigation into internal email correspondence, in which he warned workers against celebrating Islam’s holy month of Ramadan.