Metro to cut 15,000 jobs

The parent company of Germany’s two biggest consumer electronics chains Metro has announced it is cutting 15,000 jobs from across the group as it looks to save €1.5bn (£1.4bn) over the next three years.

Metro, which owns Media Markt and Saturn and is DSGi’s main competitor on the continent, said that it was hoping the majority of job cuts would come from natural wastage rather than redundancies, but refused to rule out the possibility.

The cuts will affect approximately five per cent of its 300,000 workforce, though it is currently unclear how many positions will be lost at its consumer electronic stores.

Commenting on the cuts, Metro’s chairman Dr Eckhard Cordes said: "The aim is to ensure profitable growth of the company in the long term."