LVMH’s Moët Hennessy to cut workforce by 10%
New executives at LVMH's wine and spirits division aim to cut around 1,200 jobs from a current headcount of 9,400. The post LVMH’s Moët Hennessy to cut workforce by 10% appeared first on The Drinks Business.
Moët Hennessy will cut more than 10% of its global workforce as part of a major restructuring effort to counter falling sales and rising costs, according to a report by the Financial Times.
The wine and spirits arm of luxury giant LVMH currently employs around 9,400 people. Chief executive Jean-Jacques Guiony told staff this week that roughly 1,200 roles would be eliminated, bringing the division back to its 2019 staffing levels.
Revenues at Moët Hennessy have fallen to 2019 levels, Guiony said, yet operating costs have jumped 35% over the same period. “This was an organisation that was built for a much larger size of business,” he said in an internal video seen by the FT. “People realise … that this [rebuilding sales] is not going to happen anytime soon.”
Sales slump and strategic shake-up
The cuts will largely be carried out through natural attrition and by reassigning staff to other areas of the business. Moët Hennessy has already implemented a hiring freeze, and leadership did not specify a timeline for the reductions.
The restructuring comes as Moët Hennessy grapples with a sharp drop in demand. Organic sales fell 9% in the first quarter of 2025, making it the weakest performing division at LVMH, where overall across the business organic sales were down 3%.
Deputy CEO Alexandre Arnault, who joined the division alongside Guiony in February, acknowledged to staff that this crisis was unusual in scope. “Usually at LVMH when wines and spirits are not going well, fashion is doing well or some [other part of the business] is performing differently. Right now things are not going extremely well,” he said.
An internal video seen by the FT show that discussions around job cuts began before Guiony and Arnault took the reins. A hiring freeze has been in place since the second half of 2023, and around 70 roles were already eliminated in China this year out of a planned 100.
In a statement, a Moët Hennessy spokesperson confirmed the move: “While Moët-Hennessy’s business has returned to its 2019 level, Moët-Hennessy announced yesterday its intention to adjust its organisation and gradually return to its 2019 staffing levels, primarily by managing its natural turnover and not filling vacant positions.”
Guiony reassured staff that the current downturn was part of a cycle. “Things are bad but they will become better,” he said, though he warned that US tariffs added another layer of uncertainty to the company’s outlook.
