Do we like them?

Do we like Bayer?

German pharma and crop-science group (Leverkusen) that owns Monsanto and makes medicines and seeds.

Our score: 4 out of 10. Not yet. The medicines business is improving, but Roundup and PCB cases and 12,000+ job cuts keep it a mixed bag. The $7.25bn Roundup settlement isn't final.

Bayer is a 160-plus-year-old German health and farming giant. In 2018 it paid $63bn for Monsanto, the maker of Roundup weedkiller. That deal brought heavy debt and a flood of lawsuits claiming Roundup causes cancer.

American Bill Anderson took over as CEO in 2023, after predecessor Werner Baumann's Monsanto deal. Per Fortune, he cut managers from about 16,000 to 4,500. Fierce Pharma counted over 12,000 job losses on his watch. Bayer says the restructuring is now done, though more headcount cuts could follow.

In June 2026 the US Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that Bayer can't be sued under state law for failing to warn about Roundup cancer risks. Bayer called it good for science and farmers. Critics in the MAHA movement were furious. A St. Louis jury also sided with Monsanto in the first trial after the ruling.

It's not over. Bayer's proposed $7.25bn class settlement still needs final court approval, which Anderson hopes for before Christmas. Plaintiffs' lawyers argue other claims survive the ruling. Separate PCB pollution cases from the Monsanto days have cost Bayer states' and cities' settlements. Bayer says it has set aside billions.

Our score is 4. Pharma is growing and the CEO has admitted the litigation hurt public trust. But Bayer still denies any Roundup cancer link, the legal mess is unresolved, and its Monsanto inheritance has harmed people and places.