(new: share price, Kreise announcement on split and more details)

LEVERKUSEN (dpa-AFX) - The agrochemical and pharmaceutical company Bayer has presented its workforce with an extensive job reduction program. At the online event on Thursday, representatives of the Works Council and management answered questions from employees. The previous evening, the company had announced that it would introduce a new organizational model and examine all areas of the Group for possible savings. Work processes are to be made more efficient. Jobs that are deemed superfluous will be eliminated. It is not yet clear how many these will be.

The announcement only had a moderately positive impact on the trading floor in early trading. The shares even came under significant pressure over the course of the day and were recently at the bottom of the DAX, losing more than two percent in a friendly market. This was due to a report by the Bloomberg news agency. Citing people involved in the matter, Bloomberg reported that the agrochemical and pharmaceutical group has currently been able to avert a possible split-up. Speculation about this had been a recurring theme on the stock market. A Bayer spokesperson did not wish to comment on the report when asked.

Bill Anderson from the USA has been in charge at the Leverkusen-based company since last June, when he succeeded long-time CEO Werner Baumann. Baumann was responsible for the takeover of former US competitor Monsanto, whose glyphosate risks continue to weigh heavily on Bayer's balance sheet to this day.

The outlook for the pharmaceuticals business, on the other hand, is gloomy due to the lack of promising blockbusters. For years, the anticoagulant Xarelto and the eye drug Eylea have been flushing billions into the company's coffers. However, their patents are gradually expiring in the various markets, causing revenues to fall - copycat products from competitors are putting the German company under pressure. "Bayer is currently in a difficult situation for various reasons," says Labor Director and Bayer Board of Management member Heike Prinz.

"In order to quickly and sustainably improve the performance of our organization and our room for maneuver, drastic measures are now necessary. We want to put Bayer on the road to success quickly." The aim is to "remove all internal obstacles and thus reposition Bayer for future profitable growth", says the HR manager.

Employee representatives backed the plan to cut jobs. "Our top priority is to secure the future of Bayer employees," said Francesco Grioli, IG-BCE trade unionist and member of the Bayer Supervisory Board. They have agreed to the path that has now been taken and are open to Bayer's new organizational model. "A lot will change for the employees. We will work together to ensure that everyone can safely embark on new paths." Head of the General Works Council Heike Hausfeld emphasized that it had at least been possible to make the forthcoming job cuts "as socially acceptable as possible".

The move comes as no surprise. Anderson is an avowed supporter of lean corporate management. When he started working at Bayer in spring 2023, he had already explained his ideas to journalists and praised the management book "Humanocracy". This book is about giving employees as much freedom as possible, but also responsibility, without being over-managed by excessive management levels. This cultural change is now underway.

The new organizational structure, which provides for fewer decision-making levels than before, is to be in place by the end of 2025. There will be no compulsory redundancies until the end of 2026 - and job security will apply for one year longer than previously agreed. Employees who lose their jobs will be offered severance pay. Bayer currently employs 22,200 people in Germany and 101,000 worldwide, and the meaningfulness of management functions is also to be examined abroad./wdw/mis/DP/tih/jha/