Packaging of a weed killer containing glyphosate
Photo: Patrick Pleul/dpa
The Bayer Group urgently needs relief: the pharmaceutical and chemical giant is deep in a crisis.
At the beginning of March, the company announced that it had ended 2023 with a loss of billions.
One of the consequences: Bayer shares are currently worth as little as they were almost 20 years ago.
But now the Leverkusen-based company is making people sit up and take notice with a potentially positive development: According to CEO Bill Anderson, the company is working on an alternative to the controversial weed killer glyphosate.
“We are already testing this new substance on real plants,” said CEO Bill Anderson to the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung” (FAS).
“Our goal is to bring the new product onto the market in 2028, i.e. in just four years.” It is the first groundbreaking innovation in this area in 30 years.
Expensive processes
Glyphosate was developed by the American agricultural chemical company Monsanto, which Bayer acquired for more than $60 billion.
Since then, expensive legal disputes have burdened the Leverkusen-based company.
In America, Bayer is facing tens of thousands of claims for damages due to alleged health damage following the use of glyphosate.
Anderson has ruled out separating the agricultural business from the rest of the group until 2026.
Instead, he is focusing on putting Bayer on the road to success with a new organizational model that is intended to reduce overall costs by two billion euros per year.
»There will be fewer bosses.
And as the number of managers increases, so does the number of high-paying jobs,” Anderson said of his plans.
With less bureaucracy in the company, productivity will increase.
"We want to put 95 percent of the decisions in the hands of those whose everyday work they actually impact."
Bayer is in a long period of weakness.
The debt level is around 35 billion euros.
Bill Anderson has been at the helm of the company since last June.
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