Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
US pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. has announced that job losses are set to continue as part of two major restructuring programmes. Merck has already eliminated more than 36,000 positions since 2010.
Under a programme announced in 2010 following the company's merger with the Schering-Plough Corporation, Merck & Co. has already eliminated 29,160 positions via redundancies, a reduction in the number of contractors and by not filling vacant positions. The company has now announced that approximately 2,585 jobs remain to be cut under the programme. The cuts will mostly affect workers in manufacturing, and are linked to on-going factory closures. They are expected to be completed by the end of 2016. According to media sources, most of the cuts will be realised via the sale of two plants, one in Italy and one in France.
Under a second restructuring programme first announced in 2013, Merck & Co. intends to reduce its global workforce by 8.500 by the end of 2015. The job losses are focused on sales and administrative positions and positions at the company's headquarters, as well as research and development. As of 30 June 2015, 7,290 positions had been eliminated, suggesting that further job losses may follow before the end of the year.
Merck & Co. had approximately 69,000 employees as of 30 June 2015.
Eurofound (2015), Merck, Merger/Acquisition in World, factsheet number 84725, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/84725.