Abbott to cut 3,000 jobs

Abbott Laboratories Inc plans to cut 3,000 jobs, or about 3 percent of its workforce, following its purchase of Solvay's pharmaceuticals business. The cuts will take place over the next two years and the vast majority will come from one-time Solvay positions, Abbott spokesman Scott Stoffel said.
The reductions will include reductions from research and development, commercial, manufacturing and other staff functions, Stoffel said. Abbott, which has about 93,000 employees, will also close the former US headquarters of Solvay's pharmaceuticals unit in Marietta, Georgia by the end of 2011. About 500 positions at a site in Weesp, the Netherlands also will be eliminated, as will 300 jobs in Hannover, Germany. The job cuts are part of "a series of recent strategic announcements designed to position Abbott's pharmaceutical business for sustained and future growth," Stoffel said.