Renault F1’s title sponsor ING has decided to cut back its sponsorship from Formula 1 very soon. The Dutch-based company has predicted to make a loss of around 1 billion Euros for the 2008 financial year.
Keeping this in mind, the company has decided to reduce its 2009 budget by 1billion Euros which includes pulling back from Formula 1 and reducing its workforce by 7000.
The company issued a statement on Monday (26th January, 2009) which says, “ING will cut operating expenses by EUR 1 billion in 2009 The structural expense reduction will lead to annual savings of approximately EUR 1.1 billion from 2010 onwards. Of the cutback, 35% will come from a reduction of the workforce by approximately 7000 full-time positions in 2009.The remainder of the expense reduction comes from decreasing costs for our head office, marketing, the Formula One program, consultancy, third-party staff and the renegotiating of certain contracts with IT-vendors. Of the total expense reduction, EUR 650 million will be realized in Banking and EUR 350 million in Insurance.â€
ING wasn’t just the title sponsor for Renault, but it even advertised on various F1 tracks like Australia, Hungary, Belgium and Turkey. Jan Hommen has been appointed as the new CEO for ING as Michel Tilmant steps down.
