Exclusive-Bayer's new CEO plans to cut management jobs in prelude to overhaul
By Ludwig Burger and Patricia Weiss
FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Bayer's new CEO plans to cut management jobs to speed up decision-making as a first step to overhaul the embattled German industrial group, which is facing investor pressure to break up, three people familiar with the matter said.
The stock was up 1.3% at 0900 GMT on the news on Friday, outperforming a gain of about 1% in Germany's benchmark index DAX and the STOXX Europe 600 Health Care which was 0.6% higher.
Bill Anderson, at the helm since June, is keen to show investors speedy improvements and buy himself time to lay out broader restructuring plans over the next few months, the sources said. They declined to be identified because the details are confidential.
Anderson plans to soon present initial plans for cutbacks at an internal strategy meeting, one of the sources said, while another said the measures would affect middle-to-upper layers of management, resulting in as yet unspecified one-off costs for golden handshakes for departing employees.
The number of jobs affected and timing of an announcement are not known.
A Bayer (OTC:BAYRY) spokesperson declined to comment.
«A sense of urgency is evident in the new CEO. The old management often acted as if they had all the time in the world,» said Markus Manns, portfolio manager at German mutual fund firm Union Investment, when asked to comment on the Reuters report.
He noted that Anderson had shown a clear distaste for bureaucratic structures at his previous employer, Roche.
«Anderson seems set to not leave any stone unturned at Bayer. Carrying on as before is simply not an option,» he added.
«Bayer is facing investor pressure to break up, so the news might improve sentiment, but it isn’t the news the market is
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