Molson Coors's new CEO needs more than job cuts to shore up the bottom line

By Bill Peters

'Bigger picture, incoming CEO Rahul Goyal needs to address Americas' accelerating volume declines,' analyst says

Molson Coors plans to eliminate around 400 salaried jobs in its Americas division by the end of the year.

Molson Coors Beverage Co. on Monday announced plans to cut around 9% of salaried staff in its Americas division by the end of the year. But as the brewer's new chief executive settles into the job, TD Cowen analysts believe the company needs to do more than simply get leaner.

"Bigger picture, incoming CEO Rahul Goyal needs to address Americas' accelerating volume declines," the analysts, led by Robert Moskow, said in a research note on Tuesday. Volumes represent a measure of actual liquid sold by the company.

The cuts at Molson Coors (TAP) were announced after Goyal took on the CEO role on Oct. 1, succeeding Gavin Hattersley, who will stay on as an adviser until the end of the year.

The company - which along with its namesake beers also sells brands like Miller and Foster's - plans to eliminate around 400 jobs overall. As of last year, Molson Coors had around 16,800 employees worldwide, with some 10,300 employees in its Americas unit.

The cuts include "hundreds of salaried positions that were already open from role-prioritization efforts put in place earlier this year, and those who may be granted voluntary severance as part of this restructuring," the company said Monday.

Goyal, who had served as chief strategy officer, takes on the top job as analysts and alcohol-industry executives debate the degree to which younger consumers have shied away from alcohol, against a backdrop of increased health consciousness and greater access to weight-loss drugs. For people who still consume alcohol, there are plenty of options besides beer - and thus plenty of competition.

Moskow, in the TD Cowen note, said the company didn't put a number on how much money the staff reductions would save. But he said it would be much smaller than the $150 million in cost cuts that came from its last restructuring in 2019. Molson Coors, in its announcement on Monday, said it expected to book $35 million to $50 million in charges related mainly to severance and benefits.

The bigger issue for the company, Moskow said, is that it's been losing business in the U.S.. Volumes in its Americas business, he noted, were trending 10% lower this year and 23% lower since 2019.

"CEO Goyal will need to provide the Street with a plan for stabilizing these trends (particularly the Coors Light and Miller Lite brands) aside from just consolidating the asset footprint," Moskow wrote.

"Investing behind premium brands and stretching into faster-growing market segments through tack-on acquisitions (e.g. nonalcohol beer, mixers) makes sense, but has proven insufficient to move the needle so far," he added.

Shares of Molson Coors were up 0.1% in Tuesday afternoon trading, at last check. The stock is down 18.6% so far this year.

Some analysts have suggested consumers' shift away from drinking might not be permanent. Molson, in August, said that drinkers' enthusiasm for beer hadn't waned.

"Drinking-age consumers continue to engage with beer at similar levels across all generations, and compared to historical levels," Hattersley said then. "It's the occasions that are left."

-Bill Peters

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10-21-25 1436ET