AstraZeneca: 15,000 Layoffs Through 2013; Company

[Pale Blue Dot]

Source: BNET

AstraZeneca announced plans for another 7,400 layoffs to take place before 2013. About 38 percent of those job cuts will come prior to 2010, the company said. The remainder will occur before 2013.

The company expects the “restructuring” to cost $2.9 billion, but to save $2.5 billion a year after that. AZ has already laid off 7,600 people since 2007. The new cuts bring that total to 15,000.

A look at AZ’s Q4 earnings and a recent analyst comment, however, show that the company is deeply distressed:

Every dollar spent on sales reps and marketing yields only $2.68 in revenues, exactly where the company was way back in Q3 2007. (We saw yesterday that such a low yield puts AZ in the bush league of pharma companies — it’s even less productive than Bristol-Myers Squibb.)

Read more: http://industry.bnet.com/pharma/1000734/astrazeneca-15000-layoffs-through-2013-company/#comments

[CatholicEdHead]

1. I guess this means the R&D channel for new drugs is mostly empty

[Warpy]

2. No, not really.

It means "Why should we keep using detail men when our unethical TV advertising leads to much higher profits when people who don't really need our shit bug their doctors until they get it?"

[sharp_stick]

3. Probably hoping Pfizer

will buy them out.

The AZ leadership group is pathetic and has been for quite some time. I have to give credit to their marketing team though, anybody that can push the new Purple pill as better than the old one and convince folks to pay for it deserves something.

[KoKo]

4. They must be looking for some "bail out" money if they are projecting to 2013..

:-( How can they know they how many they will have to lay off that far out. Sounds like pushing for money to me.