Zoetis, under pressure from activist investor Ackman, will offload 10 plants to cut costs

Animal health leader Zoetis ($ZTS) is using a move out of the Amgen ($AMGN) playbook, whacking on manufacturing to cut costs and appease an aggressive activist investor. Zoetis announced in its first-quarter earnings release today that it will sell or close 10 unnamed manufacturing sites as part of a plan to cut $300 million in costs in the next two years. It said it will also reduce the number of products it sells by about 5,000 and revamp its structure from four operating units to two. Sources say the moves were made under pressure from investor Bill Ackman. Amgen made some similar moves last year, cutting manufacturing sites as well as some R&D operations, targeting about 4,000 jobs, after investors and analysts suggested it needed to get its costs in line. Story | More