Pepsi to Cut 8,700 Jobs

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Pepsi(PEP) will cut its global work force by 3% as it looks to cut costs and put more money into advertising in North America and increase returns to shareholders in the coming year.

The soft drinks and snack food giant announced Thursday it will cut 8,700 jobs across 30 countries to save $1.5 billion by 2014.

The maker of Tropicana juice and Doritos chips will increase advertising in North America by as much as $600 million this year, Pepsi said, while initiating a $3 billion share buyback program and raising its dividend by 4%.

The announcement came as the soda giant joined Coca-Cola(KO) in reporting strong-than-expected quarterly results.

Revenue climbed 11% to $20.16 billion in the fourth quarter as the company earned $1.15 a share. Analysts expected to see earnings of $1.13 a share on revenue of $19.89 billion.

-- Written by Kaitlyn Kiernan in New York.

>To contact the writer of this article, click here: Kaitlyn Kiernan

To follow the writer on Twitter, go to @Kaitlyn_Kiernan.

>To order reprints of this article, click here: Reprints