BASF strengthens core business: more extensive use of AI, reducing costs by 20% by 2029 On May 21st, according to The Paper, on May 20th, BASF announced that the next phase of its "winning strategy" will focus on strengthening and developing its "core business" after quickly and almost fully completing the spin off of its "independent business". To this end, BASF has established a new "Core Transformation Office" team, with Julia Raquet as president, responsible for driving the implementation of cross departmental transformation projects. The project covers all 'core businesses', service departments, and enterprise centers. The project is named 'CoreShift' and aims to achieve a net cash fixed cost reduction of up to 20% for core business by 2029, based on 2024. Julia Raquet will report directly to Dr. Kelly, Chairman of the Executive Board of BASF Group, in her new position.