Management has discovered weaknesses in all business areas. Bosch will therefore not rule out the possibility that more than the 12,000 employees who have been notified of layoffs will have to leave.
Bosch's earnings are plummeting. In the course of 2024, earnings before taxes fell by a third. And although there are still billions on the bottom line, the Germans are now warning of even more layoffs.
This is what Der Spiegel writes.
Bosch management has already made it clear that 5,000 positions will be cut. This is due to falling demand and general restraint in the automotive industry.
"Despite all our efforts, we could not escape economic realities," says CEO Stefan Hartung.
For the same reason, the director is also lowering expectations for the coming quarters and next financial year, even though none of the company's divisions are making a loss.
That just doesn't mean that the company's employees are protected.
In fact, the layoffs have already started to hurt. At the end of 2024, the Bosch Group had 417,900 employees worldwide. That's a full 11,500 fewer than the year before.
And of those, the number of employees in Germany fell by 4,400. Management cannot rule out that more layoffs are on the way.
In fact, Bosch has said several times over the past year that it will cut more jobs.
Right now, the plan is for the otherwise gigantic subcontractor to shrink by 12,000 employees in 2032 – in less than 7 years.
And of those, around 7,000 jobs in Germany will be cut. But it's not certain that it will be anywhere near enough.
Even though the largest division, Mobility Automotive, sold a whopping 56 billion euros in 2024. But it could have been better.
Especially because Bosch's largest customers – the European car manufacturers – are suffering major losses in the Chinese car market, the world's largest.
