Wait, Now Bayer Is Trying to Buy Monsanto?

Global agrichemical giants take a break from killing bugs and weeds and take aim at each other.

A farmer sprays a corn field with pesticides. <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-419658139/stock-photo-tractor-spraying-a-field-of-corn.html?src=ZEsza3OnZZn9DyO7nIf3Ng-1-40">pajtica</a>/Shutterstock

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


UPDATE: Bayer has revealed the value of its offer for Monsanto: $62 billion. It’s a serious bid—it represent a 37 percent premium over Monsanto’s market valuation just before takeover rumors started circulating, Bayer says. But according to The Wall Street Journal’s Helen Thomas, it’s a little less than what ChemChina ultimately ended up paying Monsanto’s rival and one-time takeover target Syngenta, when you compare the takeover prices to the companies’ profits. That’s why I’m skeptical that this deal will actually happen. Monsanto shareholders and management will likely hold out for a valuation comparable to the one ChemChina placed on Syngenta; and Bayer shareholders are already expressing sticker shock at the current offer. But you never know. 

Last year, US pesticide and seed giant Monsanto noisily stalked its Swiss rival Syngenta, in a bold effort to combine the globe’s biggest seed company (itself) with the largest maker of insect- and weed-killing chemicals. The effort ultimately flopped, but it set in motion a veritable merger frenzy among the handful of companies that dominate the the global agribusiness trade. Syngenta succumbed to Chinese chemical giant ChemChina, US titans Dow and DuPont combined (in deal still pending regulatory approval), and Monsanto openly salivated over the agrichemical divisions of German giants BASF and Bayer.

It would mean that the same four gargantuan companies sell upwards of 60 percent of the globe’s seeds and pesticides.

Now, however, Monsanto has emerged as the hunted party, and it is a European rival—Bayer—that is taking aim. In a Wednesday statement, Monsanto acknowledged “an unsolicited, non-binding proposal from Bayer AG for a potential acquisition of Monsanto, subject to due diligence, regulatory approvals, and other conditions.” Neither company has publicly discussed a price. The Wall Street Journal puts it at “more than $42 billion” for “what could be the biggest foreign corporate takeover effort ever by a German company” and the “largest deal in Bayer’s 150-year history.”

Quoting an estimate from Bernstein Research analyst Jeremy Redenius, Reuters reports that the price tag could be north of $50 billion.

Like Monsanto, Bayer has public-image challenges. Its blockbuster neonicotinoid pesticides have been temporarily banned in Europe under suspicion of harm to honeybees and other pollinators. It’s also a major maker of bisphenol-A (BPA), a widely used chemical that has been linked by a mounting weight of science to obesity and developmental troubles in kids.

A combined Bayer-Monsanto would rival the emerging Dow-DuPont in seed/agrichemical girth. It would mean that the same four gargantuan companies sell upwards of 60 percent of the globe’s seeds and pesticides. I’ll be closely following this drama as it plays out.

THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

payment methods

THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate