Israel drug giant Teva to cut thousands of jobs: reports
Troubled Israeli drug giant Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is to unveil a cost-cutting programme Thursday that will include thousands of layoffs, according to various Israeli media reports.
The Calcalist business newspaper said on Wednesday that Teva intended to "cut over 4,000 jobs, mainly in the US and Israel" as it was saddled with almost $35 billion in debt.
Financial daily Globes said Teva would "fire at least 3,000 employees out of its workforce of 7,000 in Israel".
"Teva will close down and sell its Kiryat Shmona Migada disposable medical equipment plant and cut 505 of its workforce in the Petah Tikvah head office," Globes wrote.
"All R&D operations in Netanya will be closed down and other operations will be sold off," it added, referring to the coastal city.
Israeli public radio also reported on Wednesday that Teva planned to slash thousands of jobs.
Spokespeople at the company's headquarters near Tel Aviv could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
On November 1, Teva replaced interim chief executive Yitzhak Peterburg with Danish healthcare industry veteran Kare Schultz in what chairman Sol J. Barer called "the start of a new chapter" for the company.