McDonald's CEO reveals his massive plan to save business

McDonald's unveiled its massive turnaround plan to revive business on Monday.

"Our recent performance has been poor. The numbers don't lie," McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook said in a 23-minute video overview of the plan. "I will not shy away from the urgent need to reset this business."

Easterbrook said the company will strip away layers of management, focus more on listening to customers, and act faster to adapt to consumers' changing tastes.

"Our existing organization is inefficient and lacks clear accountability," Easterbrook said. "We need to execute fewer things better."

McDonald's same-store sales have fallen for six straight quarters in the US, and the company's net income fell 15% last year.

McDonald's restaurants need to deliver customers "great tasting, high-quality food with better service every time," he said. Internally, the company needs "stronger financial discipline, faster decision-making and hard-edged accountability."

The company will be restructured into four market segments: The US; International Lead Markets (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the UK); High-Growth Markets (China, Italy, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, and the Netherlands); and Foundational Markets (the remaining markets in the McDonald's system).

McDonald's will also refranchise more than 3,000 restaurants through 2018, bringing its total percentage of franchised restaurants from 81% to 90% globally.

Improving food quality will be a top priority, as well, Easterbrook said.

"In the last five years, the world has moved faster outside the business than inside," he said. "We're not on our game."