The recent financial report released by the German pharmaceutical and agrochemical giant Bayer shows that, mainly due to legal litigation and other factors, Bayer has a net loss of approximately 10.5 billion euros in 2020, a record loss.
In June 2020, Bayer reached a series of settlement agreements with the US plaintiff in a civil lawsuit involving the herbicide produced by its subsidiary Monsanto that may cause cancer and damage crops.
Bayer also compensated Monsanto's involvement in environmental lawsuits in the United States for the toxic chemical PCBs produced by Monsanto. The compensation paid to Bayer caused losses in excess of US$10 billion.
The financial report shows that Bayer's sales revenue of 41.4 billion euros in 2020, a year-on-year decrease of 4.9%. Bayer CEO Werner Bowman pointed out that Bayer reached more than 20 mergers and acquisitions or cooperation agreements in the pharmaceutical business last year. In the future, it will continue to promote corporate transformation, broaden product pipelines, and invest in new technologies.
Bayer, headquartered in Leverkusen, Germany, has 750 production plants in 200 locations on six continents; it has 120,000 employees and 350 branches, almost all over the world. Polymer, medicine and health care, chemical industry and agriculture are the company's four pillar industries. The company's product categories exceed 10,000. On June 7, 2018, Bayer announced the completion of the acquisition of the American biotechnology company Monsanto, and Monsanto shareholders received a compensation of $128 per share.
