Diageo cut almost 2,000 jobs in its latest financial year, under the new leadership of CEO Dave Lewis, nicknamed “Drastic Dave.” 

A title given during his time working at Tesco and Unilever, Lewis earned the nickname thanks to his extreme corporate turnarounds, heavy cost-cutting and intensive job cuts.  

Now it appears the CEO has brought the same ethos to Diageo, which let go of more than 6% of its workforce to the year ending June 30.  

In the annual report, published on Tuesday, the drinks company did not give specific reasons for the cut to its workforce.  

However, it comes in the context of Lewis’ promise to cut $1 billion in costs over three years.  

Reporting on its current finances, the Diageo data reported $19.6 billion in revenue, which is a 2% decline on an organic basis.  

Organic profit also fell by 27% to $3.2 billion, largely due to $900 million spent in restructuring charges alongside a $1.5 billion loss related to business in Turkey.  

At present, despite the severe workforce reduction, Diageo’s average staff costs also increased during the year, rising from $2.48 billion to $2.55 billion.  

According to the company, this is due to an increase in the National Insurance rate and a lowering of the threshold at which companies start paying tax.