Agribusiness giant Monsanto will cease to exist after it is officially merged with Bayer on June 7, the two companies announced Monday.
Bayer, a pharmaceutical and pesticide company based in Germany, announced in 2016 that it would buy Monsanto, based in the United States, for $60 billion in an all-cash deal. The deal is expected to close on Thursday. At that point, Monsanto as an entity will be shuttered, although its operations will continue under the Bayer banner.
Monsanto has become a controversial name over the past two decades as the company’s association with issues like genetically modified crops and pesticides has come under fire from critics.
“Monsanto will no longer be a company name,” Bayer said in an announcement Monday. “The acquired products will retain their brand names and become part of the Bayer portfolio.”
In a statement, Werner Baumann, the chairman of Bayer’s Board of Management, suggested that Monsanto’s tarnished brand would be an impediment to the new company.
“We aim to deepen our dialogue with society,” Werner said. “We will listen to our critics and work together where we find common ground. Agriculture is too important to allow ideological differences to bring progress to a standstill. We have to talk to each other. We need to listen to each other. It’s the only way to build bridges.”
Once the companies are merged on June 7, the resulting firm will be the largest seed and agricultural chemical company in the world.
The retirement of the Monsanto brand by Bayer was immediately criticized on social media.
“Please never forget all of the awful things Monsanto has done when its name goes away,” Silicon Valley entrepreneur Jeremy Gardner tweeted Monday.
Shares of Monsanto budged slightly amid the news, increasing about 0.25 percent to close at $127.86.
