Never willing to sit idle, AstraZeneca is whacking 7,600 workers off the payroll as it steps up its restructuring plans. That amounts to 11 percent of its work force. Determined to find $900 million in savings by 2010, CEO David Brennan says these cuts would hit the company's European sales and marketing operations along with R&D in a variety of countries around the globe. The cuts were announced with a second quarter earnings report that analysts regard as more evidence of a fundamentally strong company. It should be interesting to see how the other big pharma companies react to this news. Eager to earn Wall Street kudos, more may follow the same path.
- see this excerpt from AstraZeneca's quarterly report
- read the article from the International Herald Tribune
ALSO: AstraZeneca likes to talk about the expanded pipeline it gained by buying MedImmune, but some hefty restructuring costs have forced the pharma giant to cut its financial guidance. Report