Could Google Be a Buyer for Former Merck & Co. HQ?

Could Google Be a Buyer for Former Merck & Co. HQ?
April 23, 2015
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

WHITEOUSE STATION, N.J. – Who is the possible mystery buyers of Merck & Co. ’s former 1 million-square-foot headquarters in Whitehouse Station?

The space vacated last year by the pharmaceutical giant is reported to be under contract, according to a report this morning on NJ.com. However, until a period of due diligence has been completed by the perspective buyer, Merck is remaining mum, according to the report. Some area residents commenting on the article are speculating a tech company, possibly Google , is the secret buyer. With its transition into healthcare, Google could certainly make use of the former pharmaceutical headquarters that includes a 900-seat dining area overlooking the courtyard, a 250-seat auditorium, a full fitness center and 35,000-square-foot data center. In January Google and multiple sclerosis drug maker Biogen teamed up to research and address environmental and genetic factors that can cause the debilitating disease multiple sclerosis. The company created Google Genomics, a system that allows hospitals, research facilities and universities to store and share genomic data.

However, Google moving its corporate headquarters to the Garden State is merely speculation based on local rumors. Online searches show Google has moved some regional offices out of Chicago and possibly from Ann Arbor, Mich., but nothing about the company’s corporate headquarters out of Mountain View, Calif.

The Whitehouse Station site is zoned research/ office. Still, if Google was searching for a new site to house Google X, the company’s life sciences division, the New Jersey site would put operations closer to some of the major biotech and pharmaceutical hubs on the east coast.

Merck put the Whitehouse Station building and a portion of its 1,000 acre campus on the market in 2013 as part of initiative to sharpen the company’s commercial and research and development programs, as well as a reduction in operating costs. Merck had been headquartered in Whitehouse Station since 1992. Prior to that, the company was based in Rahway, N.J.

In addition to the Whitehouse Station site. Merck also closed its facility in Summit, N.J. as well. The company consolidated its operations at its Kenilworth, N.J. location. The real estate moves are expected the company to save approximately $2.5 billion by the end of this year, mostly from savings in marketing and administrative costs.

The consolidation of work sites though did come with some human costs, with the loss of about 7,500 jobs, about 20 percent of the company’s total workforce.

Merck’s real estate moves were part of a cost savings and operational benefitting plan following the company’s 2009 merger with Schering-Plough.

Kenneth C. Frazier, Merck’s chief executive officer, said the initiative will put Merck in a stronger position to “more effectively commercialize medicines and vaccines for the people who need them.”

was slightly down this morning from its opening price of $57.56 per share.

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