By 
PepsiCo Inc. is laying off workers at the headquarters of its North American snacks and beverages divisions, a signal that corporate belt-tightening is extending beyond tech and media, according to people familiar with the matter and documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Hundreds of jobs will be eliminated, one of the people said. The cuts affect the company’s North America beverage business, which is based in Purchase, N.Y., and its North America snacks and packaged-foods business, which has headquarters in Chicago and Plano, Texas, the people said.
In a memo sent to staff that was viewed by the Journal, PepsiCo told employees that the layoffs were intended “to simplify the organization so we can operate more efficiently.” The cuts will be heavier in the beverage business because the snacks unit already has trimmed positions with a voluntary retirement program, the people said.
PepsiCo
PEP,
-1.38%
makes Doritos, Lays potato chips and Quaker Oats, along with its namesake cola. As of Dec. 25 last year, PepsiCo employed about 309,000 people worldwide, including about 129,000 people in the U.S.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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