Unilever’s Beauty & Personal Care President Leaves Amid Reorganization

Sunny Jain, the president of Unilever's personal care business, is leaving the company. The announcement comes amid a shakeup at the world's No. 2 FMCG company. Earlier this week, Unilever announced layoffs and a reorganization. The move will reduce levels of decision making and make it more agile, the company said. Unilever is ranked No. 1 in Happi's International Top 30 report.

Earlier this month, Unilever failed to acquire GlaxoSmithKline's Consumer Health division. That business includes such well known oral care brands as Aquafresh. According to Unilever, Jain's job has been eliminated. His responsibilities will be split between two newly created divisions, Beauty & Wellbeing and Personal Care.

Jain joined Unilever in 2019 from Amazon. He is leaving to set up an investment fund in technology megatrends.

Following three failed bids for GSK's business, Unilever says it will be “a simpler, more category-focused business.” It plans to move away from its current “matrix structure” and will be organized around five business groups: Beauty & Wellbeing; Personal Care; Home Care; Nutrition and Ice Cream.

According to Unilever CEO Alain Jope, moving to five category-focused business groups “will enable us to be more responsive to consumer and channel trends, with crystal-clear accountability for delivery. Growth remains our top priority and these changes will underpin our pursuit of this.”

The five business groups will be supported by Unilever Business Operations, which will provide the technology, systems and processes to drive operational excellence across the business. A “lean” Unilever Corporate Center will continue to set the group’s overall strategy, the company said.

Each business group will be “fully responsible and accountable for their strategy, growth and profit delivery globally,” Unilever said.

The proposed organizational model will result in a reduction in senior management roles of around 15% and more junior management roles by 5%, equivalent to around 1,500 roles globally, according to the company.

Factory teams will not be impacted by the changes, and all costs related to setting up the new organization will be managed within existing restructuring investment plans, according to the company, Unilever said.

Last week, Jope was critized by British media for pursuing the GSK bid. His job is now said to be at risk. Still, Jope said the new organizational model “has been developed over the last year and is designed to continue the step-up we are seeing in the performance of our business.”