British American Tobacco has said it is cutting about 2,300 jobs worldwide as it overhauls its structure and invests in vaping and other new tobacco products.
The Benson & Hedges and Lucky Strike owner said the jobs will mostly go by January and the focus is on management - with more than 20% of senior roles in the group being hit.
Chief executive Jack Bowles said: "My goal is to oversee a step change in New Category growth and significantly simplify our current ways of working and business processes, whilst delivering long-term sustainable returns for our shareholders. This is a vital first move to help achieve these goals.
"A programme of this significance involves decisions that will be difficult for our people, but ultimately it is the right thing for our business."
British American Tobacco (BAT) - which employs more than 55,000 people globally - did not give a breakdown of where the jobs will go.
It operates across more than 200 markets worldwide, but the UK is one of the smaller ones.
BAT employs almost 2,500 staff in the UK, with its group headquarters in London and a research and development operation and office in Southampton.
The company said the move was designed to focus on key growth areas, help decision making faster, give greater management accountability and eliminate doubling up on activities.
It is now consulting with affected staff.
BAT said the cuts will allow it to deliver savings to reinvest in new categories such as vapour, tobacco heating products and oral tobacco as smokers turn their backs on traditional cigarettes.
It wants to make £5 billion of sales from these new high-growth products by 2023-24.
Among its plans, BAT will reduce management layers, trim its business units and simplify its key business processes.
"This will ensure the company is better placed to meet ever evolving consumer needs and deliver savings that can be reinvested in the growth of its portfolio of new categories such as vapour, tobacco heating products and oral tobacco," the firm said in a statement.
AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said: “Falling numbers of smokers and increasingly strict rules in developed economies have seen tobacco manufacturers turn their focus to so-called next generation products such as e-cigarettes for future growth.
