Johnson & Johnson, owner of Ann Arbor's HealthMedia, plans global job cuts
Johnson & Johnson, the corporate parent for one of Ann Arbor’s hottest technology companies, plans to cut up to 7 percent of its workforce in a global restructuring plan announced this morning.
The global firm, whose wide-ranging business includes the struggling pharmaceuticals segment, is slashing $900 million in costs, the Associated Press reported. The company, which acquired Ann Arbor-based HealthMedia in October 2008, has a global workforce of 118,700.
J&J spokesman Bill Price told AnnArbor.com that the firm is not releasing specific information about where the layoffs would occur.
“We’re not providing a more detailed breakdown,” he said.
HealthMedia executives could not be reached for comment this morning. HealthMedia President Ted Dacko said last month that the firm is experiencing revenue growth in the high double digits.
J&J maintained the HealthMedia’s operation in downtown Ann Arbor after the acquisition. HealthMedia has since added more than 20 employees, bringing its personnel count to about 200
The firm, a University of Michigan spinoff company, offers lifestyle management software that helps lowers health care costs.
Contact AnnArbor.com's Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can also follow him on Twitter.
Comments
squint
Tue, Nov 3, 2009 : 4:58 p.m.
Were not providing a more detailed breakdown,J&J spokesman Bill Price said. That's the real flash point of this report. No disclosure or accountability by corporate tax dodgers is required.
John Galt
Tue, Nov 3, 2009 : 2:02 p.m.
The Pharma industry is being decimated around the country. Pfizer will lay-off another 20,000 with it's Wyeth merger (and the executives get million dollar bonuses). Merck and Shering-Plough will layoff thousands more. Lilly announced 8,000 layoffs, now JnJ, etc. The mergers are merely excuses to cut costs. The research activities are disturbed by re-organization and fear of layoffs. No wonder the productivity of the Pharma industry has suffered over the past 10 years. The managements at these companies have no clue that research requires time, patience, and stability. Additionally, with fewer independant reseach companies, we will see less diverse research as the few monoliths crush innovation in the political atmosphere that pervades these organizations.