The Switzerland layoffs are the latest in Bayer’s 2024 workforce reductions, which already include 1,500 people and nearly half of the executive leadership team.
Bayer is laying off more employees, this time cutting about 150 jobs at its consumer health international headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, Fierce Pharma reported, citing Swiss newspaper NZZ’s article. The layoffs within Bayer’s 1,000-person Basel workforce will mostly affect the consumer health division and the administrative functions that support it and should take effect by 2025, according to Fierce.
Earlier this month, the company released its second-quarter earnings results, where CEO Bill Anderson said the consumer health division had “returned to growth,” with sales increasing 5.3% to $1.59 billion. The company also reported $12.15 billion in total second-quarter revenue, which beat the consensus analyst forecast of approximately $12.05 billion, according to analytics firm Vara Research.
The Basel cuts are the latest in Bayer’s 2024 workforce reductions, which include two notable layoffs in the first six months of the year. In March, the company eliminated nearly half of its executive leadership team, going from 14 to eight members. Then in May, it cut 1,500 jobs, mostly management positions.
Bayer announced impending layoffs in January, when it unveiled a “dynamic shared ownership” operating model designed to make the company more agile by cutting back on bureaucracy and hierarchies as well as streamlining business structures. The restructuring initiative included job cuts Bayer expected to complete by the end of 2025. As of Dec. 31, the company had 99,723 employees worldwide.
Bayer announced the new operating model just a few months after Anderson hinted at major structural changes during a third-quarter earnings report. At that time, he pointed to Bayer’s zero cash flow, deeming it unacceptable.
Bayer has been dealing with the aftermath of a troubled acquisition of agricultural giant Monsanto, whose weed-killer Roundup was plagued by claims of cancer, sparking more than 42,000 lawsuits. Additional challenges include the company’s Xarelto patent expiring this year in the European Union and in 2025 in the United States.
The company did recently announce a win. Earlier this month, Bayer shared that its Phase III cardiovascular outcomes trial hit the primary endpoint, positioning it to talk to regulators about filing for approval of finerenone in heart failure.
