PPG will lay off 1,800 employees as paints and coatings maker aims to cut costs

recent YORK — PPG Industries plans to lay off about 1,800 employees amid efforts to cut costs, with the paints and coatings maker also inking a deal to sell a sizeable chunk of its architectural business.

Pittsburgh-based PPG said Thursday that the job cuts would primarily impact positions in the U.S. and Europe. The timing of the layoffs was not immediately disclosed, but the business said the cuts were part of a larger multiyear program aimed at reducing structural worldwide — noting that this will also include “various facility closures,” without specifying further.

“While these decisions are challenging, they are essential to adjust our fixed expense base and to correct-size our business,” Tim Knavish, PPG chairman and CEO, said in a prepared statement — pointing to two recently-announced business divestitures.

Also on Thursday, PPG announced that it had agreed to sell all of its U.S. and Canadian architectural coatings business — which houses brands like Liquid Nails, Glidden and Olympic and made up $2 billion in net sales for PPG last year — to private stake firm American Industrial Partners. The sale, expected to close in late 2024 or early 2025, is valued at $550 million.

And in August, PPG agreed to sell its silicas products business to Poland-based QEMETICA S.A. for about $310 million. That swap is also still pending.

Thursday’s announcement of layoffs and its latest business divestiture arrives shortly after a disappointing returns update for PPG. The business on Wednesday reported third-quarter profit of $468 million, or $2.13 per distribute, on income of $4.58 billion. Results fell short of Wall Street expectations.

PPG’s recent cuts also arrive amid an surroundings of impoverished home sales. Existing U.S. home sales slipped 2.5% in August, the latest month with data available, as prices increased on an annual basis for the 14th consecutive month. And the average rate on a 30-year mortgage surged to 6.32% last week, although that’s still well below 2024’s peak of 7.22% in May.

Both PPG and AIP struck an optimistic note about Thursday’s agreement. Rick Hoffman, associate at AIP, said that the firm was “thrilled to be acquiring a storied business with a heritage dating back 125 years.” And Knavish said such divestitures “further optimize” PPG’s holdings by aiding growth in the business’s strongest areas.