Bayer Confirms 4,500 German Job Cuts in Post-Monsanto Reboot

(Bloomberg) -- Bayer AG confirmed it’s cutting about 4,500 positions in Germany, part of an effort to reshape its business and become more profitable after its controversial Monsanto acquisition.

The cuts, which represent about 14 percent of the German workforce, are part of a larger package announced in November to eliminate 12,000 positions around the world. Bloomberg previously reported the German job cuts announcement on Monday.

The German drugs and chemicals conglomerate is under pressure to show that spending $63 billion to buy Monsanto was a good deal. The purchase brought Bayer into the line of fire for thousands of lawsuits claiming that glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto’s weedkiller Roundup, causes cancer. Bayer rejects that claim and has vowed to fight in court.

Bayer is aiming to save 2.6 billion euros ($2.6 billion) a year from 2022 via efficiency programs, of which slimming the payroll is only a part.

The company will face investors angry about the fallout of the deal at its shareholder meeting on April 26.

To contact the reporter on this story: Naomi Kresge in Berlin at nkresge@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Eric Pfanner at epfanner1@bloomberg.net, Thomas Mulier

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