Bayer, the German pharmaceuticals and chemicals group, has announced plans to cut 12,000 out of 118,200 jobs worldwide, in a bid to reduce costs and regain investor favour following a string of legal setbacks related to its Monsanto acquisition earlier this year. The Leverkusen-based company said Thursday that details of the cuts to its 118,200-stong workforce would be worked out in coming months but that "a significant number" of the reductions would come in Germany. Shares in Bayer have dropped by more than a third so far this year, in part because of concerns over the company’s exposure to lawsuits involving Roundup, a weedkiller made by Monsanto. It says with the “synergies expected from the acquisition of Monsanto” and other efficiency and structural measures, including the job cuts, “Bayer anticipates annual contributions of 2.6 billion euros from 2022 on.”

The company says a portion of the funds will be used to strengthen competitiveness and innovation in its divisions.
The German chemical and pharmaceutical company Bayer is to cut 12,000 jobs by the end of 2021 as part of an overhaul following its acquisition of Monsanto earlier in 2018.