Natasha Singer
New York Times
07/08/2010
The $41 billion merger last year of the drug giants Merck and Schering-Plough has a human cost for pharmaceutical industry employees.
Merck plans to lay off about 15 percent of its work force — about 15,000 people — over the next two years as part of a global merger restructuring, according to an announcement the company issued on Thursday. Merck said it also planned to close eight research and eight manufacturing sites worldwide.
The restructuring is expected to save $2.7 billion to $3.1 billion in 2012, the company said. Meanwhile, the pretax cost of the initial phase of the cost-cutting program is expected to range from $3.5 billion to $4.3 billion, much of it in severance packages for employees.
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