BAT cuts 9,000 jobs as AI automation reaches legacy consumer goods

British American Tobacco announced 9,000 job cuts—5,500 direct redundancies and 3,500 roles transferred to external partners—on 29 June, citing AI-enabled automation as a primary driver. The cuts represent roughly 20% of its global workforce. The restructuring signals that automation is now accelerating through legacy FMCG sectors beyond technology, targeting centralized functions like finance and compliance where scale automation has become economically viable.