Pennsylvania-based paints and coatings maker to lay off 1,800 employees
PPG Industries, headquartered in Pittsburgh, announced the plans last week. It said the layoffs are an effort to cut costs.
The job cuts will mostly be in the U.S. and Europe. The company didn't disclose when the cuts would happen.
When asked how many layoffs would be in Pittsburgh, a spokesperson said in a statement, "The program is not focused on a specific location or business but instead will target structural cost reductions across PPG global businesses."
Also last week, PPG announced it had agreed to sell all of its U.S. and Canadian architectural coatings business, which houses brands like Liquid Nails, Glidden and Olympic and made up $2 billion in net sales for PPG last year. The sale to private equity firm American Industrial Partners is expected to close in late 2024 or early 2025 and is valued at $550 million.
In August, PPG agreed to sell its silica products business to Poland-based QEMETICA S.A. for about $310 million. That transaction is also still pending.
The announcement of layoffs and PPG's latest business divestiture arrived after a disappointing earnings report. The company reported third-quarter net income of $468 million, or $2.13 per share, on revenue of $4.58 billion. Results fell short of Wall Street expectations.
PPG's recent cuts also come amid an environment of poor home sales. Existing U.S. home sales slipped 2.5% in August, the latest month with data available, as prices increased on an annual basis for the 14th consecutive month. The average rate on a 30-year mortgage surged to 6.32% last week, although that's still well below 2024's peak of 7.22% in May.
