After acquiring Schering, Bayer to cut 6,100 jobs worldwide
Our Corporate Bureau
03 March 2007
Germany: German chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant Bayer AG, yesterday announced that it would cut 6,100 jobs worldwide as part of the integration of newly-acquired drug maker Schering. Bayer said that it had already commenced talks with employee representatives.
To ease the burden of its Schering acquisition in June last year, Bayer signed an agreement to divest its diagnostics division to Siemens AG, from which it netted post-tax proceeds of €3.6 billion.
According to a statement from Bayer, "The integration of Schering with the pharmaceuticals division of Bayer will result in annual savings of €700 million each year from 2009." It added, "Adjustments to personnel requirements and the consolidation of processes and systems will each contribute about half to the targeted global synergy effects."
"We want to create an internationally successful pharmaceutical company with competitive cost structures," said Chairman Werner Wenning. "We said right from the start of the integration that job cuts would be necessary in order to achieve the synergy targets. These essential streamlining measures are to be fairly implemented in a socially acceptable process, balanced across the globe," Wenning said.
About 3,150 jobs to be cut were in Europe, of which 1,500 would be in Germany alone. Another 1,000 jobs would be axed in the US, 750 in the Asia-Pacific region and Japan, and 1,200 jobs in Latin America and Canada, Bayer said.In terms of division, 1,400 jobs would be axed in Bayer's R&D activities, 1,850 in production and 2,850 in administration, the company continued.
