Merck's ($MRK) layoffs announcement last week was long on generalities and short on details, as job cuts announcements usually are. The numbers were vague, as was the laundry list of departments that might suffer. About the only specific indication about what jobs might be vulnerable, and where, came from a spokesperson who said the U.S. workforce would bear 30% to 40% of the pain.
Now, there are a few more morsels of information, courtesy of the Star-Ledger. First, the company will begin telling employees about layoffs later this year. Second, the downsizing will include some administrative staff and organizational support people at Merck's global headquarters in Whitehouse Station, NJ.
Spokesman Steve Campanini also told the newspaper that information about potential job cuts at R&D facilities in Rahway and Kenilworth, NJ, isn't available. Talk, however, is flying, as In the Pipeline notes. Current rumors have Merck moving most drug discovery out of Rahway. No doubt tidbits of news will continue to escape Merck HQ.
- read the Star-Ledger piece
- get more from In the Pipeline