Bayer

• 1. A Dye Factory In Barmen

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  Friedrich Bayer and Johann Friedrich Weskott opened a partnership in 1863 within the German town of Barmen. They established a facility to produce dyes for the textile industry. Fuchsine and aniline became their most important products during these early years. The company moved its headquarters from Barmen to Elberfeld in 1866 to access larger production areas. After Friedrich Bayer died in 1880, his son joined the business as a chemist. This transition turned the firm into a joint-stock company known as Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co. A further expansion proved impossible in Elberfeld, so the company relocated to Wiesdorf near the village of Leverkusen. A new city named Leverkusen was founded there in 1930 to house the corporate headquarters.

• 2. The Birth Of Aspirin And Heroin

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  Bayer launched acetylsalicylic acid under the trademarked name Aspirin in 1899. This compound was first described by French chemist Charles Frederic Gerhardt in 1853. Arthur Eichengrün claimed he discovered the formulation that eliminated nausea and gastric pain while Felix Hoffmann is credited with inventing the name. By 2011, approximately 40,000 tons of aspirin were produced each year globally. In the United States alone, consumption reached between 10 billion and 20 billion tablets annually for cardiovascular prevention. Bayer also introduced heroin as a non-addictive substitute for morphine from 1898 until 1910. The director of pharmacology chose the German word heroisch because they did not want too complicated a name. These products became iconic despite later controversies regarding their safety and usage.

• 3. Slave Labor And Medical Experiments

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  IG Farben utilized slave labor within factories built inside Nazi concentration camps during World War II. The Monowitz concentration camp served as a primary site for these operations starting around 1943. Almost half of IG Farben's workforce consisted of slave laborers or conscripts by that time. Helmuth Vetter conducted medical experiments on inmates at Auschwitz and Mauthausen concentration camps. A Bayer employee wrote to Rudolf Höss requesting another group of women after previous subjects died during anesthetic studies. The company paid RM 170 per person for the use of 150 female inmates. Fritz ter Meer helped plan the Buna Werke factory where 25,000 forced laborers were deployed. Ter Meer was sentenced to seven years but released in 1950 before being elected chairman of Bayer AG in 1956.

• 4. Rebirth And Reintegration Of Convicts

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  The Allied Control Council seized IG Farben assets following World War II due to its role in the Nazi war effort. In 1951, IG Farben split into constituent companies including Bayer which was reincorporated as Farbenfabriken Bayer AG. Helge Wehmeier offered a public apology in 1995 to Elie Wiesel regarding actions taken between 1939 and 1945. Despite being convicted Nazi war criminals, some former employees returned to high-level positions within the restructured firm. Bayer played a key role in post-war West Germany quickly regaining its position as one of the world's largest chemical corporations. The company changed its name to Bayer AG in 1972 after decades of operating under different legal structures.

• 5. Mergers That Reshaped Industry

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  Bayer merged with Monsanto in May 2016 for $62 billion making it the biggest acquisition by a German company to date. The deal closed on the 7th of June 2018 after regulatory approvals from both the European Union and the United States. By 2023, Bayer's market value had declined by over 60% since the merger occurred. Bayer also acquired Schering AG in July 2006 for €14.6 billion creating Bayer Schering Pharma. This transaction became the largest takeover in Bayer's history up until that point. In September 2015, the company spun out its materials science division into Covestro retaining about 70 percent interest. These strategic moves shifted focus toward life sciences while divesting older industrial assets like chemicals and polymers.

• 6. Litigation Over Drugs And Chemicals

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  A U.S. jury ordered Monsanto to pay $289 million to a school groundskeeper claiming his Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma resulted from Roundup use in August 2018. Bayer agreed to pay $9.6 billion to settle more than 10,000 lawsuits regarding harm from Roundup in June 2020. Cutter Laboratories knowingly supplied hemophilia medication tainted with HIV to patients in Asia and Latin America during the mid-1980s. Thousands who infused this product tested positive for HIV and later developed AIDS. Bayer settled around 25,000 lawsuits on Xarelto by disbursing $775 million in 2019. A Delaware judge dismissed a lawsuit seeking to hold Bayer responsible for talc-related liabilities stemming from Merck's consumer care business purchase in April 2023.