Status: 08.02.2023 5:57 p.m
After sustained criticism from investors, longtime Bayer boss Werner Baumann resigned prematurely. The successor at the head of the German chemical and pharmaceutical giant is said to be Roche manager William Anderson.
The pharmaceutical and agrochemical group Bayer is getting a new boss: The current CEO Werner Baumann is retiring at the end of May after 35 years of service and will be replaced in June by William Anderson, currently in Roche management. This was decided by the supervisory board at its meeting today.
“The new appointment is the result of a comprehensive selection process that was initiated in the middle of last year,” the group said. Bayer had been looking since the middle of last year. Baumann, who has been under pressure since the multi-billion dollar takeover of US seed giant Monsanto, had previously announced that he would not renew his contract. But his current contract would have actually run until the end of April 2024.
Roche manager becomes successor
His successor, Anderson, will join the company as a member of the board in April and then work closely with Baumann to ensure a “smooth transition”. Anderson, who studied chemical engineering, was most recently head of Roche’s pharmaceuticals division. Before that, he headed the biotech group Genentech.
Investors responded enthusiastically. Recently, demands from activist investors, but also from German funds, for a quick change in leadership had caused unrest. Bayer shares jumped significantly after the announcement and ended trading as the DAX leader with a plus of six percent.