Merck & Co (MRK.N) plans to slash thousands more jobs by late 2015 to wring out additional annual cost savings of up to $1.5 billion that can be plowed back into research and dealmaking. The No. 2 U.S. drugmaker cut a net 6,500 jobs last year, reducing its workforce to 91,000 employees as of June 30. The company, which also reported quarterly earnings in line with forecasts, said on Friday it would reduce its workforce by an additional 12 percent to 13 percent from the 100,000 employees it had at the end of 2009 after buying Schering-Plough Corp. A company spokesman declined to peg the actual number of job cuts, saying they would be somewhat offset by new hires in in strategic growth areas, such as emerging markets.
Merck & Co., Inc. (Merck) is a global health care company. Shares of MRK fell by 1.63% or $-0.57/share to $34.36. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $31.06 and as high as $37.68. On average, 12583100 shares of MRK exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 6665348.
