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posted by martyb on Thursday May 19 2016, @09:55PM   Printer-friendly
from the seeds-of-a-takeover dept.

Monsanto announced that it has received an unsolicited purchase offer from Bayer AG. The offer is under consideration by Monsanto's board of directors. The companies are both major sellers of pesticides and of seeds for crops. Monsanto's market capitalisation on 18 May was $42.43 billion.

According to Dow Jones Business News via NASDAQ:

Folding Monsanto's world-leading seed franchise and its trademark Roundup herbicide business into Bayer would create a company with a combined $68 billion in annual sales, marketing products ranging from Aspirin pain-relief pills to crop genetics that enable plants to withstand bugs and weedkillers. The combination would sell about 28% of the world's pesticides and about 36% of U.S. corn seeds and 28% of soybean seeds, according to Morgan Stanley estimates.

Coverage:

related story:
Cartoonist Fired for Criticizing Big Agriculture


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 19 2016, @10:05PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 19 2016, @10:05PM (#348521)

    Just NO!

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by bob_super on Thursday May 19 2016, @10:22PM

    by bob_super (1357) on Thursday May 19 2016, @10:22PM (#348529)

    Rumors have it that discussions are advancing for a reunion tour of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
    (They are wondering about inviting the one who left before they became famous, Ronnie Soak)

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 19 2016, @10:29PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 19 2016, @10:29PM (#348530)

    After you eat a big meal with Monsanto's GMO food, you're gonna need some aspirin.

    • (Score: 2) by That_Dude on Friday May 20 2016, @12:31AM

      by That_Dude (2503) on Friday May 20 2016, @12:31AM (#348577)

      And just who do you think they tested that aspirin formulation on??????

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 20 2016, @01:05AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 20 2016, @01:05AM (#348589)

      Go for the triple: McSanto's GMO hamburgers and aspirin chaser.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Gravis on Thursday May 19 2016, @10:37PM

    by Gravis (4596) on Thursday May 19 2016, @10:37PM (#348533)

    I don't see how Monsanto could get any more evil, so maybe new management would be an improvement. Hopefully, they will raise the price of herbicides and GMO seeds so that they will be used less. (I'm not against GMOs, just profit driven GMOs)

    • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 19 2016, @11:11PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 19 2016, @11:11PM (#348548)

      Is evil synergistic? If we add two evil companies together do we get more than 2x the amount of evil?

      From the Wiki page on Bayer, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayer [wikipedia.org] -
      > In 1925 Bayer became part of IG Farben, the world's largest chemical company. Following the Nazi takeover of Germany, IG Farben was embroiled in the Nazi regime's policies as a large government contractor. After World War II, Bayer was reestablished as an independent company, and quickly regained its position as one of the world's largest chemical and pharmaceutical corporations. Bayer has been involved in controversies regarding some of its drug products; its statin drug Baycol (cerivastatin) was discontinued in 2001 after 52 people died from renal failure, and Trasylol (aprotinin), used to control bleeding during major surgery, was withdrawn from the markets worldwide when reports of increased mortality emerged; it was later re-introduced in Europe but not in the US.

      And an amusing bit of history -
      > Heroin (diacetylmorphine), now illegal as an addictive drug, was trademarked and marketed by Bayer as a cough suppressant and non-addictive substitute for morphine from 1898 to 1910.[13] Bayer scientists were not the first to make heroin, but their scientists discovered ways to make it, and Bayer led commercialization of heroin.[14] Heroin was a Bayer trademark until after World War I.[15]

      The wikipedia page even has a picture of the bottle with Heroin label in a little 'swish' logo.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 20 2016, @05:23AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 20 2016, @05:23AM (#348632)

        Now that's a cute couple! Next product Round Zyklon Up B? Don't you just love the poison industry?

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by DECbot on Thursday May 19 2016, @10:41PM

    by DECbot (832) on Thursday May 19 2016, @10:41PM (#348536) Journal

    The company that sells GMOs that people suspect to cause chronic health issues is being bought by a drug company that sells treatments to people suffering from chronic health issues?

    The incentive for a drug company to breed crops that are safe for human consumption is a conflict of interest!

    1. plant is modified
    2. bug won't eat plant
    3. plant goes to market
    4. company gets paid
    5. PROFIT!!!
    6. person eats modified food
    7. food is nearly safe to eat
    8. long term exposure causes chronic health issues to the person
    9. person buys drugs
    10. company gets paid
    11. PROFIT!!! PROFIT!!!
    --
    cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
    • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday May 19 2016, @11:39PM

      by aristarchus (2645) on Thursday May 19 2016, @11:39PM (#348554) Journal

      I.G. Farben is rumored to be interested as well. Who says you cannot change corporate culture?

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by fishybell on Friday May 20 2016, @12:11AM

      by fishybell (3156) on Friday May 20 2016, @12:11AM (#348567)

      people suspect to cause chronic health issues

      Suspecting it doesn't make it true.

      That said, burn in hell Monsanto.

      • (Score: 2) by arulatas on Friday May 20 2016, @01:48PM

        by arulatas (3600) on Friday May 20 2016, @01:48PM (#348748)

        That is what they said about cigarettes/smoking/tobacco and cancer.

        --
        ----- 10 turns around
  • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday May 20 2016, @12:24AM

    by Gaaark (41) on Friday May 20 2016, @12:24AM (#348571) Journal

    I've tried to come up with something witty and funny or insightful or whatever...

    ...all i come up with is 'Sh*t', because if this is allowed to go through, that is what we are all in for.

    Might as well just move to the fucking woods and go native or something, or....

    Really. Just sh*t.

    --
    --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
    • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 20 2016, @03:18AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 20 2016, @03:18AM (#348612)

      ... move to the fucking woods and go native ...

      Sorry, that option isn't really available anymore. Say you live in the woods and shoot a deer for food with bow and arrow (or a gun, your choice). Yesterday it was probably munching on GM corn or soy in a nearby farm field, which includes residue of RoundUp...

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 20 2016, @04:43AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 20 2016, @04:43AM (#348627)

    Not surprising. In the own words of Bayer's CEO Marijn Dekkers Bayer designs its products for the market, not for poor people [pnhp.org], almost along the line of the other Martin, Shkreli.