Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Tuesday June 05 2018, @07:13AM   Printer-friendly
from the don't-worry...-just-take-two-Bayer®-asprin-and...-oh,-wait dept.

Monsanto, a brand name activists love to hate, will disappear as Bayer takes over:

These days Monsanto is shorthand for, as NPR's Dan Charles has put it, "lots of things that some people love to hate": Genetically modified crops, which Monsanto invented. Seed patents, which Monsanto has fought to defend. Herbicides such as Monsanto's Roundup, which protesters have sharply criticized for its possible health risks. Big agriculture in general, of which Monsanto was the reviled figurehead.

And soon Monsanto will be no more. Bayer, the German pharmaceutical giant and pesticide powerhouse, announced in 2016 it would be buying Monsanto in an all-cash deal for more than $60 billion. Now, as the merger approaches, Bayer has confirmed what many suspected: In the merger, the politically charged name "Monsanto" will be disappearing. The combined company will be known simply as Bayer, while product names will remain the same. The move is not exactly a surprise — it makes sense that Bayer might want to weed out some of the intense negative associations associated with the Monsanto brand. In a way, it's an indication of how successful anti-Monsanto protesters have been in shaping public perception.

In the company's latest statement, Bayer implicitly acknowledged how hostile debates over genetically modified crops and other agricultural products have become. "We aim to deepen our dialogue with society. We will listen to our critics and work together where we find common ground," the chairman of Bayer's board of management, Werner Baumann, said in the statement. "Agriculture is too important to allow ideological differences to bring progress to a standstill. We have to talk to each other. We need to listen to each other. It's the only way to build bridges."

Also at Reuters.

Previously: Bayer AG Offers to Buy Monsanto
Bayer Purchases Monsanto for Around $66 Billion

Roundup: Monsanto Ordered to Pay $93M to Small Town for Poisoning Citizens
RoundUp Glyphosate Found to Cause Kidney Failure and Elude Tests
Cancer Hazard vs. Risk - Glyphosate
Use of Dicamba-Resistant Monsanto Crops Leads to Soybean Death
GMO Grass That 'Escaped' Defies Eradication, Divides Grass Seed Industry
Glyphosate Linked to Liver Damage


Original Submission   Alternate Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Tuesday June 05 2018, @04:49PM (8 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 05 2018, @04:49PM (#688926) Journal

    In the meantime, business is doing very well, thank you

    So well, they deep-sixed the brand.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Insightful=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Insightful' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 05 2018, @08:42PM (7 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 05 2018, @08:42PM (#689026)

    Hardly matters if the money doesn't stop flowing in. Business is still great.

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday June 05 2018, @11:07PM (6 children)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 05 2018, @11:07PM (#689066) Journal
      "IF". Branding takes money. That means money flowing out rather than in.
      • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 06 2018, @04:31PM (5 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 06 2018, @04:31PM (#689371)

        Rebranding has not slowed the inflow of money one bit. Don't make shit up.

        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday June 07 2018, @03:34AM (4 children)

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday June 07 2018, @03:34AM (#689710) Journal

          Rebranding has not slowed the inflow of money one bit.

          It probably has, but you wouldn't notice. My point however wasn't that money stopped flowing in, but rather that establishing a brand requires an outflow of money. Monsanto put a lot of money into its brand. Now, it's merely a liability to keep the brand going. If Bayer then keeps on doing whatever killed Monsanto, it risks trashing its own very valuable brands, some which it's put a century of work into.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 08 2018, @04:32PM (3 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 08 2018, @04:32PM (#690380)

            Monsanto put a lot of money into its brand.

            And they made tons more by selling it, like selling any other commodity. And Bayer will make plenty by simply dropping it.

            • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday June 09 2018, @02:56AM (2 children)

              by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday June 09 2018, @02:56AM (#690652) Journal
              A brand isn't a commodity by definition.
              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 09 2018, @06:30PM (1 child)

                by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 09 2018, @06:30PM (#690877)

                Wall Street begs to differ

                • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday June 09 2018, @11:42PM

                  by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday June 09 2018, @11:42PM (#690964) Journal
                  Definitions trump AC's opinions of what nebulous categories would have an opinion of, if they could have, would have an opinion.