Merck KGaA to cut jobs

Merck KGaA’s takeover of Schering AG could result in thousands of jobs being cut, reports suggest.

According to AFX News’ partner organisation dpa-AFX, the two companies employ a combined 55,000 members of staff and a source said that Merck KGaA would look to reduce this number by 3,000-4,500 worldwide.

The same source revealed that the company would look to make the cuts within three years as it looks to clear any debts from the purchase of Schering AG within five.

Merck KGaA’s unsolicited bid for Schering is valued at approximately 14.6 billion euros, one billion of which is reportedly to come direct from the Merck family itself, which owns 73 per cent of the shares in the company.

With regards to the job cuts, AFX’s source revealed that they were most likely to come from countries outside of Germany, with voluntary resignations and retirements the company’s preferred method of streamlining its number of employees.

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