Bayer to cut 4,500 jobs in Germany
The pharmaceutical and chemical giant Bayer plans to cut 4,500 jobs in Germany, one-third of its total cuts worldwide.
In total, 12,000 out of 118,000 jobs will be cut worldwide, as Bayer seeks to rev up efficiency and boost profit margins in the ailing company.
Employees on Tuesday will be receiving a letter on their desks informing them of the cuts, RP online reported. Most employees will be offered severance packages or early retirements.
Since its takeover of seed giant Monsanto last August for a record €59 billion, stocks have plummeted by 40 percent, reported AFP in March.
Since then, Bayer has faced a wave of lawsuits in the US from glyphosate users who said that the substance found in Monsanto’s weedkiller Roundup had cancerous consequences.
SEE ALSO: German firm Bayer to cut 12,000 jobs, many of them in Germany
Currently a total of 32,100 people are employed in Germany through the company. According to the report, 3,000 of the 4,500 jobs to be cut will be in cross-divisional functions such as administration and information technology at the company’s corporate headquarters in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia.
Further jobs in research will also be axed at the company’s operations in Berlin and Wuppertal, also in North Rhine-Westphalia. Some jobs in the agricultural unit related to the Monsanto takeover will also be cut.
The cuts will be taking place through to the end of 2021, enabling the company to save €2.6 billion per year from 2022.
Bayer has officially denied that the reorganization is related to the glyphosate lawsuits, in which more than 11,000 people have sued.
There have been two jury trials, and Bayer lost both. It plans to appeal both, as it denies the connection to cancer.
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In total, 12,000 out of 118,000 jobs will be cut worldwide, as Bayer seeks to rev up efficiency and boost profit margins in the ailing company.
Employees on Tuesday will be receiving a letter on their desks informing them of the cuts, RP online reported. Most employees will be offered severance packages or early retirements.
Since its takeover of seed giant Monsanto last August for a record €59 billion, stocks have plummeted by 40 percent, reported AFP in March.
Since then, Bayer has faced a wave of lawsuits in the US from glyphosate users who said that the substance found in Monsanto’s weedkiller Roundup had cancerous consequences.
SEE ALSO: German firm Bayer to cut 12,000 jobs, many of them in Germany
Currently a total of 32,100 people are employed in Germany through the company. According to the report, 3,000 of the 4,500 jobs to be cut will be in cross-divisional functions such as administration and information technology at the company’s corporate headquarters in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia.
Further jobs in research will also be axed at the company’s operations in Berlin and Wuppertal, also in North Rhine-Westphalia. Some jobs in the agricultural unit related to the Monsanto takeover will also be cut.
The cuts will be taking place through to the end of 2021, enabling the company to save €2.6 billion per year from 2022.
Bayer has officially denied that the reorganization is related to the glyphosate lawsuits, in which more than 11,000 people have sued.
There have been two jury trials, and Bayer lost both. It plans to appeal both, as it denies the connection to cancer.
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