The U.S. beverage giant Pepsico is cutting hundreds of administrative jobs in the U.S. in an increasingly difficult economic environment, according to a newspaper report. The beverage business in Purchase and the snacks and packaged foods business with headquarters in Chicago and Plano, Texas, will be affected, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday after the U.S. close, citing people familiar with the matter and company documents. The beverage business is likely to be hit harder, as jobs have already been cut in the other division through a voluntary retirement program, it said. As of the end of 2021, the group employed more than 300,000 people with the almost eponymous cold drink Pepsi and products such as Lay's chips and oatmeal from Quaker Oatswelt./mis (dpa)