Bayer Details Job Cuts

Bayer has provided more detail about the roughly 6,100 layoffs it plans over the next two years as part of the integration of fellow German drugmaker Schering AG. When Bayer rescued Schering from a hostile bid from Merck KGaA last spring, it acknowledged that about 10% of the combined pharmaceutical staff of roughly 60,000 would be shed. The company aims to save about $925 million annually when the consolidation is completed in 2009. Bayer says 1,400 of the cuts will come from research and 1,850 from manufacturing. The company already said it would close R&D sites in West Haven, Conn., and Richmond, Calif., resulting in the loss of about 600 jobs in the U.S., primarily in R&D. The company expects to pare an additional 400 positions in the U.S. In Europe, the company expects to eliminate 3,150 jobs, including about 1,500 positions in Germany. About 750 job cuts will come from Asia, and Latin American and Canadian operations will lose a combined 1,200 positions.