Bayer chooses the difficult path – economy

One reason is the bad decisions made in recent years. Bayer must write off 3.3 billion euros because several drugs do not bring as much money as expected. The group bought the brands concerned four years ago from the competition. In addition, a new anti-haemophilia drug factory, which Bayer has built specifically in Wuppertal, is no longer used, as competition has tightened. Only the Leverkusen have miscalculated about 600 million euros.

Another problem is that the market value of Bayer has collapsed this year. The stock only costs half of what it was at the end of January. Baumann is also "not happy", he confides. But although the group now wants to specialize further and its annual cost is 2.6 billion euros, it wants to lose the stock market Thursday, another nearly one percent worth.

According to Bayer, every tenth job in the world should disappear, "a significant part of it in Germany". However, the Leverkusen of this country do not want to announce dismissal, at least not in the next seven years. "With the measures we are addressing, we are laying the groundwork to sustainably increase Bayer's performance and profitability," said Baumann. He wants the group to invest more in research and development in the future. Nevertheless, the job cuts will initially cost around 4 billion euros, mainly for severance pay. The details will be finalized in the coming months.

Bayer has followed a trend observed in recent years in many industry groups. The companies based in Leverkusen have split their divisions and have launched Lanxess and Covestro as independent companies. The group itself focuses on the so-called "life sciences" sector: it wants to ensure the nutrition of the growing world population with its agrochemicals – and prolong the lives of people with its drugs, as well as the l & # 39; hope. Baumann wants to be a world leader in these sectors.

That is why Bayer has also bought the Monsanto group, which markets seeds and crop protection products. But the Leverkusen have not only heavily indebted him. In the United States, some 9,300 complainants consider the active ingredient glyphosate to be carcinogenic. Bayer refers to several scientific studies that refute this link. Nevertheless, in October, a US court surprisingly upheld a ruling against Monsanto, in which glyphosate was for the first time made responsible for a complainant's cancer. Bayer expects that the entire dispute over glyphosate will extend well beyond 2021.

Should society save elsewhere? Baumann points out that: "The decisions made today are not a response to the recent takeover," says the CEO, "and certainly not to lawsuits against glyphosate in the United States." The group is now planning to earn billions of euros, for example, by separating from its veterinary activity. Although this market is fundamentally attractive, Bayer has stated that it prefers to invest in its core businesses.

In addition, the Leverkusen want to sell their stake in Currenta. It is a service provider in the Group's large factories and its spin-off subsidiaries. Bayer also wants to say goodbye to his sunscreen and pedicure business. Instead, the group plans to acquire more innovations from outside in its pharmaceutical division. After all, patents for large self-developed prescription products will expire in the next few years.

The supervisory board unanimously approved all this, the group said. "The measures planned at Bayer are a major turning point for our colleagues," said Oliver Zühlke, chairman of the general company committee. The most important thing is to secure jobs for the future.