NEW YORK ? A security analyst speculated in a research note that Pfizer may slash 30 percent of the 38,000 jobs in its sales and marketing staff, which is located primarily outside Michigan. But a Pfizer spokesman said the changes, to be announced in April, could impact other Pfizer jobs as well.
According to Lehman Brothers analyst C. Anthony Butler, a large-scale layoff could add about 15 cents a share to the company’s earnings, net of severance and restructuring charges. He predicted that such a move could have a positive effect on the bottom lines of other pharmaceutical companies, which would likely follow Pfizer’s lead by reducing their own staffs.
He said it was unclear whether the outcome of a meeting by officials at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration next week would play a role in the layoffs. The FDA plans to discuss the future of Cox-2 inhibitors, a class of pain-killing drugs that have come under fire for links to cardiac problems. Pfizer manufactures the popular Cox-2 painkiller Celebrex.
Paul Fitzhenry, a Pfizer spokesman, said the company is reviewing its global operations, including all aspects of the business including pharmaceutical, animal health and consumer health.
?We?re in the analysis stage of that review,?? he said. ?We have a time line to complete our analysis and laying out financial forecasts and that time likes takes us to April 5. We?ve not reached a decision or communicated any decisions.?
Few Michigan employees are classified as marketing and sales, Fitzhenry said. Michigan?s Pfizer operations in Michigan ? the state with the most Pfizer employees ? are primarily R&D and manufacturing. But Fitzhenry said Pfizer is looking across the entire company for efficiencies and not just marketing and sales.
?We have said the intent of the review is not about reducing head count,?? he said. ?It is to help the company become more effective in what it does. It may require deploying resources in different ways than we have in the past.?
