Bayer Eliminating 6,100 Jobs Worldwide

Drug maker Bayer AG said Friday that it will cut 6,100 jobs, or 5.5 percent of its workforce, as it integrates Schering AG into its health care unit. More than half of the cuts will be in Europe, but about 1,000 positions will be eliminated in the United States.

Bayer acquired Schering last year in a 16.9 billion euro ($22.4 billion) deal and said it would have to cut thousands of jobs as the two companies combined operations. However, it left the details open until Friday.

Bayer employed about 100,200 people at the end of last year.

Bayer said the cuts would include 3,150 jobs in Europe, with 1,500 of those going in

Germany

. In addition to the

U.S.

cuts, another 1,200 jobs will be cut in

Canada

and Latin America, and 750 in Asia.

Bayer spokeswoman Meredith Fischer could not say how many of the job cuts would be in Pennsylvania; Bayer Corp. has its

U.S.

headquarters in Pittsburgh. But she expected the impact to be "very, very little."

The 1,000 jobs to be cut represent 800 announced in November, when Bayer HealthCare said it would close its research operation in West Haven, Conn., along with another 200.

All of the

U.S.

cuts are in Bayer's pharmaceutical division, she said.

In West Haven, Bayer is already in the process of closing its oncology research operations, where it has cut about 300 of approximately 1,000 jobs. Some of the remaining Connecticut jobs will be moved to New Jersey and New York, and others will be eliminated by 2008.

Fischer said the company hopes to reduce the effect by eliminating open positions and finding other spots within the company for displaced workers.

Bayer was West Haven's biggest taxpayer when the announcement was made last fall that the facility would be closed. The 137-acre campus, which has 1.6 million square feet of space in 17 buildings, is on the market.

Bayer Eliminating 6,100 Jobs Worldwide

Bayer Eliminating 6,100 Jobs Worldwide

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