New Teva CEO slashes jobs in a bid to stabilise the generics maker
Tel Aviv — Teva Pharmaceutical Industries announced some of the most sweeping job cuts in the drug industry, eliminating 14,000 positions globally as new CEO Kare Schultz seeks to stabilise a company suffering from ill-timed acquisitions and rising competition for its generic medicines. The goal is to reduce expenses by $3bn by the end of 2019, the company said in a statement on Thursday. The drug maker will also close a number of research facilities and factories. The workforce could shrink further as the world’s largest manufacturer of generic medicines considers more divestments, it said. The stock jumped in New York. The moves highlight the severity of the challenges facing Schultz, a turnaround specialist who is the drug maker’s sixth CEO in five years. He shook up the management team within days of joining last month, but now the 56-year-old Dane must move swiftly to prop up a company whose debt has ballooned to more than twice its market value.
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