(Feb 16): Nike Inc will slash its global workforce by about 2%, as the sportswear giant pushes on with efforts to reduce costs to counter a weaker sales outlook and growing competition.

The Oregon-based firm didn’t provide the number of workers that will be affected, though it currently has about 83,700 employees worldwide. 

“The actions that we’re taking put us in the position to right-size our organisation to get after our biggest growth opportunities as interest in sport, health and wellness have never been stronger,” Nike said in a statement.

The job cuts follow an announcement in December that the company is looking for as much as US$2 billion in cost savings, including reducing its workforce and simplifying its product line-up as growing consumer caution weighs on sales. 

That sparked a slump in Nike shares, which have struggled to recover and remain down about 2% this year.

The job cuts will occur in two phases, according to a Nike memo seen by Bloomberg News. The first phase will kick off on Friday and run into next week, while the second round will be completed by the end of the company’s fourth quarter.

Willamette Week reported the planned 2% job cuts earlier on Thursday in the US.