The German giant has already trimmed more than 10,000 employees since initiating a massive restructuring initiative in July 2023. Bayer said even more cuts are coming as it weathers up-and-down sales across its portfolio.
Workforce cuts continue at Bayer, with CEO Bill Anderson announcing on the company’s second-quarter earnings call Wednesday that it expects more layoffs to come. These would follow the 2,000 employees it said it was letting go during first-quarter earnings and around 11,000 total since Bayer initiated a sweeping reorganization initiative in July 2023.
At the end of the second quarter in 2024, the company had 96,567 employees worldwide. At the end of the second quarter 2025, according to the company’s earnings report Wednesday, it now has 89,556 employees, a 7.3% drop.
“I would expect that there will be additional reductions in headcount number, certainly over the coming 18 months or so,” Anderson said on the earnings call.
Bayer’s pharmaceutical division reached €4.4 billion ($5.1 billion) in sales this quarter, down from €4.6 billion ($5.3 billion) during the same period last year. Nevertheless, that was “in line” with the prior year after adjusting for currency and portfolio effects, according to the earnings report. Bayer adjusted its sales guidance company-wide from -3 to +1% to -1 to +3%, and raised it even more for the pharmaceutical division, from -4 to -1% to 0 to +3%.
The company also expects its pharmaceuticals market to expand by 8% in 2025, though it also stated that it expects patent losses and generics will eat into some of that growth.
Bayer has gone through multiple waves of layoffs over the last few years. The company kicked off a reorganization effort in July 2023. The company reported €2.9 billion in savings from the reduced headcount in its first quarter earnings but also noted that those savings were offset by costs associated with restructuring, along with other factors.
Litigation costs are also eating into the company’s bottom line. “We affirm our objective to significantly contain the litigation risk by the end of 2026,” Anderson said in a statement. Bayer saw €1.2 billion ($1.4 billion) in costs related to a lawsuit in Missouri against the company related to its weed killer glyphosate, which, according to the suit, causes cancer. In May, a court upheld a $611 million judgment against the company.
