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Bloomberg
BT Group Plc, Britain’s dominant phone company, is considering a deeper restructuring under new Chief Executive Officer Philip Jansen that could see its 100,000-strong workforce shrink by a quarter over five years, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
BT has internally discussed a target of reducing its headcount to 75,000, partly through accelerated automation of back-office processes, some business disposals and streamlined management, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private.
The job-cut program under consideration wo-uld go beyond a plan to eliminate 13,000 positions over three years that was announced last May.
BT shares reversed a decline on the news and were up 1.6 percent as of 1:42 pm in London.
The broader overhaul, which was discussed before Jansen took over in February, would seek to deliver annual savings of several hundred million pounds, adding to the 1.5 billion pounds ($2 billion) of cuts targeted by former CEO Gavin Patterson, the people said. London-based BT has made about a quarter of the cuts announced last year, said one of the people.
The discussions are preliminary and the plans could change, and any announcement from BT wouldn’t come for several months, most likely after Jansen has outlined his vision for the company at its annual results in May, the people said.