Tyson Foods is laying off 15% of its senior leadership and 10% of its corporate staff, according to reports.

Bloomberg reported Thursday that Chief Executive Officer Donnie King announced the decision in an e-mailed memo to affected staff. “This is not an easy day, and we recognize it will be difficult for our team members,” he stated in the memo, adding that the move is part of an effort to cut costs.

In February, the company reported Q1 2023 results 70% lower than the same period in 2022. King said that challenges, including market dynamics and some operational inefficiencies, impacted the company’s profitability in a way that was not expected. Underperformance in chicken, pork, and beef led to a $979 million year-over-year lower operating income in the quarter.

“This is the first time I’ve seen all markets work against us, all at the same time. It’s the first time I remember market impacts being greater than those controllables that we have and the opportunity for improvement of them,” he said when the results were released.

King further said efficiency in operations and the overall company would be a focal point moving forward, especially since the second quarter was expected to be “seasonally softer” than the first quarter.

“There’re some places where we make decisions faster, and in some cases, better decisions. In some cases, we’ll need to adjust our business model, and in other cases, the accuracy of our projections has to be better than what we demonstrated in Q1.”

Just last month, the company announced the closure of poultry facilities in Glen Allen, Virginia, and Van Buren, Arkansas. A company spokesperson said “the current scale and inability to economically improve operations” led to the decision.

The closure of a processing, broiler and hatching operation at Glen Allen, Virginia, and the Van Buren, Arkansas, plant will be effective May 12, 2023.