Restructuring features transfer of roles to strategic partners, says employer
British American Tobacco has announced it is eliminating nearly one-fifth of its global workforce — joining other companies that have let go of workers as they turn to artificial intelligence (AI).
The London-based maker of Lucky Strike and Dunhill cigarettes said it will cut approximately 5,500 roles outright and transfer a further 3,500 positions to third-party strategic partners, for a combined reduction of roughly 9,000 employees.
The cuts represent approximately 19% of the company's global headcount of about 47,000. The United States, BAT's largest market, is excluded from the program.
The restructuring is carried out under a transformation programme called Fit2Win, launched in 2025. The initiative is designed to make the organisation more agile, cost disciplined, and digitally focused. BAT expects it to generate approximately £600 million in annual cost savings by the end of 2028.
"We are building a future-ready organisation that is more agile, cost disciplined and technology enabled,” Chief Executive Tadeu Marroco. “Fit2Win is central to this ambition, strengthening how we operate and our ability to compete in a rapidly evolving environment. These changes affect many of our colleagues, and we are focused on supporting them through this transition with care and respect, as we position the business for the future."
Employee notification and labour compliance
BAT said the majority of affected employees have already been formally notified, with remaining consultations being conducted in compliance with local requirements in each jurisdiction. The company expects all role changes to be finalised by year-end 2026.
No specific countries were identified as bearing the heaviest impact.
Central to the restructuring is the transfer of roles to strategic partners rather than outright elimination. In July 2025, BAT entered a partnership with Accenture, moving roles from Global Service Hubs in Costa Rica, Mexico, Poland, Romania, and Malaysia, and Supply Network Operations in the United Kingdom and Singapore, to the consulting firm. Roles in Pakistan have moved to Systems Ltd., a local technology services provider.
BAT has also expanded its partnership with ITC Infotech, transferring Information, Digital and Technology roles in Poland and Romania to that firm while jointly establishing a new BAT Future Capabilities Centre in India.
Financial outlook
Marroco expressed confidence in the company's direction despite the scale of the restructuring. "Whether through strategic partnerships or a more focused operational footprint, we are creating a simpler, faster BAT," he said.
New Categories revenue — which includes Vuse vapes and Velo nicotine pouches — is now expected to reach mid-teens for 2026, ahead of earlier projections. The company said it remains on track to meet its full-year guidance.
Here are some other companies that have announced layoffs tied to AI adoption:
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Cut 10 per cent of its global workforce (approximately 8,000 employees) in May 2026 as part of an organisational overhaul to accelerate its transition to AI-driven operations. A further 7,000 employees were transferred to new AI-focused roles, with managerial positions eliminated across the company. In total, roughly 20 per cent of Meta's workforce was affected. |
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CEO Jack Dorsey announced the company would cut nearly half its global workforce, shrinking from more than 10,000 employees to just under 6,000, citing AI as the primary rationale. Analysts questioned how much of the reduction was AI-driven versus a correction of pandemic-era overhiring. |
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Laid off approximately 17 per cent of its global workforce in May 2026, reducing management, co-ordination-heavy, and redundant roles. The company had roughly 18,200 employees in seven countries as of July 31, 2025, and would not confirm how many of the impacted jobs were in Canada. |
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Cut approximately 950 positions, citing rapidly evolving market shifts including AI-driven changes in technology, customer expectations, and how software companies compete. The company said it was committed to providing impacted employees with care, dignity, and comprehensive transition resources. |
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Replaced nearly 80 per cent of its workforce following a company-wide push to adopt AI, part of what experts described as an automation trend that has moved from manual to white-collar work. |
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Eliminated approximately 21,000 jobs globally over the past year as it restructured operations around AI, according to its annual report filed June 22, 2026. Global headcount fell from roughly 162,000 full-time employees in May 2025 to 141,000 as of May 31, 2026 — a reduction of about 13 per cent. |
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Disclosed plans to cut approximately 30,000 corporate roles across several rounds of layoffs as part of the broader AI-driven restructuring wave. |
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Cut 5 per cent of its staff as part of a structural shift driven by companies prioritising efficiency, automation, and long-term technology bets. |
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Axed 20 per cent of its workforce. CEO Avishai Abrahami described the AI transition as the most significant shift in how companies are built since the invention of modern programming languages in the 1970s, calling it a fundamental rewiring of how companies think, manage, and operate. |
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Slashed 14 per cent of its workforce. CEO Brian Armstrong described the move as a deliberate effort to rebuild the company as lean, fast, and AI-native, saying the pace of what is possible with a small, focused team has changed dramatically. |
