General Mills cutting up to 725 jobs; 20 in Minnesota

Updated 11:25 a.m. | Posted 10:58 a.m.

General Mills expects to cut 675 to 725 jobs worldwide as it wrestles with sluggish sales.

Only about 20 of those jobs, however, will come from its Golden Valley headquarters, a General Mills spokesperson said Thursday.

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The maker of Cheerios, Yoplait and Progresso said Thursday that it will record pre-tax costs of about $57 million to $62 million, mostly for employee termination benefits.

Along with other packaged food makers like Kellogg and Campbell Soup, General Mills Inc. has slashed costs to offset slowing sales growth. Net sales rose barely 1 percent last year and the company expects core sales to grow at a "low single-digit rate" this year.

Big packaged food makers are facing changing tastes and smaller players that position themselves as more wholesome or fresh.

General Mills said its current restructuring should be complete by early fiscal 2017, generating annual savings of about $45 to $50 million.

The layoffs follow 1,400 job cuts announced last year, plus the closure of two Pillsbury dough plants in Canada and Indiana.

MPR News reporter Matt Sepic contributed to this story.