There is Hope for R&D at B+L

[Anonymous]

http://www.economist.com/news/busin...ounces-its-biggest-deal-yet-shop-til-you-drop

The economist says that Valeant does not invest in R&D but does like products close to launch. B+L has nine products that are just about ready to launch. That means job security for everyone in R&D for two years as it generally takes about two years to launch this many products.

So hold on folks. Don't be sending out your resumes yet as there is a bright near future for R&D in the next two years. After that who knows but at least the next two years looks bright.

 

[Anonymous]

http://www.economist.com/news/busin...ounces-its-biggest-deal-yet-shop-til-you-drop

The economist says that Valeant does not invest in R&D but does like products close to launch. B+L has nine products that are just about ready to launch. That means job security for everyone in R&D for two years as it generally takes about two years to launch this many products.

So hold on folks. Don't be sending out your resumes yet as there is a bright near future for R&D in the next two years. After that who knows but at least the next two years looks bright.

They may keep a few back and double or triple your workload, but everyone? Highly unlikely unless Mike has changed his model. So far he is handling this exactly as the others, which mean deep cuts across the board.

 

[Anonymous]

Everyone in R&D is safe. Nine products out the door in a year and a half as the goal. Everyone is needed to accomplish this. The value of a product approval is way more than the cost to keep a R&D at full strength.

No cuts. Just keep working hard at getting those products ready for the FDA approval and market launch and Valeant will take good care of you.

 

[Anonymous]

Everyone in R&D is safe. Nine products out the door in a year and a half as the goal. Everyone is needed to accomplish this. The value of a product approval is way more than the cost to keep a R&D at full strength.

No cuts. Just keep working hard at getting those products ready for the FDA approval and market launch and Valeant will take good care of you.

I'm assuming this is sarcasm?

 

[Anonymous]

I'm assuming this is sarcasm?

It is nice to have a positive thread for once. All these predictions of gloom and doom. Things may be even better under Valeant than WP. Valeant will scrutinize the current management and they may bring in some top quality from outside but there is no indication that they are going to cut R&D. We just have to wait and see.

 

[Anonymous]

It is nice to have a positive thread for once. All these predictions of gloom and doom. Things may be even better under Valeant than WP. Valeant will scrutinize the current management and they may bring in some top quality from outside but there is no indication that they are going to cut R&D. We just have to wait and see.

Agreed, Why so negative all the time. Just lay back and wait to see what happens. Perhaps there will be very little change and we can all move forward with nothing different but the Name of the company that owns us.

The predictions are meaningless until we get to sit down and have a nice friendly chat with our new owners.

 

[Anonymous]

Agreed, Why so negative all the time. Just lay back and wait to see what happens. Perhaps there will be very little change and we can all move forward with nothing different but the Name of the company that owns us.

The predictions are meaningless until we get to sit down and have a nice friendly chat with our new owners.

You'll be bringing the home baked brownies along?

 

[Anonymous]

Brent got up in front of the company and said that the one thing you can count on is that Valeant will tell us what they are going to do and then they will do it. First they said they will cut $800M in expenses from B+L and the next week CFO said they will cut VC R&D spending from over $60M to under $20M. It is clear what is coming to R&D at B+L and it's not something to be optimistic about.

"And on the R&D side, they spent, this year, they'll spend around $230 million or so. A lot of that was meant to wind off -- wind down anyway. You've seen the contact lens business. I think they're spending $60 million, $70 million on lenses. Once the new materials are out, that would come down under their own plan to the $20 million, so -- and there should be some further savings."

 

[Anonymous]

Agreed, Why so negative all the time. Just lay back and wait to see what happens. Perhaps there will be very little change and we can all move forward with nothing different but the Name of the company that owns us.

The predictions are meaningless until we get to sit down and have a nice friendly chat with our new owners.

Wow, positive is fine as long as it's based on facts, but believe what you will. Obviously you do not hold hard factual data in high regard, so there is no logical argument to be had on your belief and emotion. If they keep you, you may be a good fit for Valeant so hang in there.

 

[Anonymous]

Brent got up in front of the company and said that the one thing you can count on is that Valeant will tell us what they are going to do and then they will do it. First they said they will cut $800M in expenses from B+L and the next week CFO said they will cut VC R&D spending from over $60M to under $20M. It is clear what is coming to R&D at B+L and it's not something to be optimistic about.

"And on the R&D side, they spent, this year, they'll spend around $230 million or so. A lot of that was meant to wind off -- wind down anyway. You've seen the contact lens business. I think they're spending $60 million, $70 million on lenses. Once the new materials are out, that would come down under their own plan to the $20 million, so -- and there should be some further savings."

I doubt Valeant told the VC R&D at B+L that they were going to cut 2/3 of the budget. This is just fear mongering. That would likely mean a layoff of at least 50% of anyone that works in Vision Care?

 

[Anonymous]

Brent got up in front of the company and said that the one thing you can count on is that Valeant will tell us what they are going to do and then they will do it. First they said they will cut $800M in expenses from B+L and the next week CFO said they will cut VC R&D spending from over $60M to under $20M. It is clear what is coming to R&D at B+L and it's not something to be optimistic about.

"And on the R&D side, they spent, this year, they'll spend around $230 million or so. A lot of that was meant to wind off -- wind down anyway. You've seen the contact lens business. I think they're spending $60 million, $70 million on lenses. Once the new materials are out, that would come down under their own plan to the $20 million, so -- and there should be some further savings."

If they are focusing on cutting VC R&D perhaps the Pharma R&D people will be saved.

 

[Anonymous]

I doubt Valeant told the VC R&D at B+L that they were going to cut 2/3 of the budget. This is just fear mongering. That would likely mean a layoff of at least 50% of anyone that works in Vision Care?

We're not scaremongering / This is really happening. That was a direct quote from the CFO of Valeant to Goldman Sachs, the interview is available on the web and linked to on this board.

 

[Anonymous]

We're not scaremongering / This is really happening. That was a direct quote from the CFO of Valeant to Goldman Sachs, the interview is available on the web and linked to on this board.

If your talking about

http://seekingalpha.com/article/149...al-healthcare-conference-jun-11-2013-09-20-am

The CFO clearly is just trying to make himself look like he knows what he is talking about using the old WP talking points. Winding down, D&R, etc. are straight from the WP corp speak playbook. A CFO owns a company for one week and can give an interview on details of the ophthalmology business. I don't think so. Reality will hit soon and Valeant will realize that they cannot cut D&R at B+L. D&R is clearly safe as the new management obviously knows nothing about ophthalmology and will rely heavily on the current B+L D&R management to provide them with their talking points for their interviews with the investment community.

 

[Anonymous]

If your talking about

http://seekingalpha.com/article/149...al-healthcare-conference-jun-11-2013-09-20-am

The CFO clearly is just trying to make himself look like he knows what he is talking about using the old WP talking points. Winding down, D&R, etc. are straight from the WP corp speak playbook. A CFO owns a company for one week and can give an interview on details of the ophthalmology business. I don't think so. Reality will hit soon and Valeant will realize that they cannot cut D&R at B+L. D&R is clearly safe as the new management obviously knows nothing about ophthalmology and will rely heavily on the current B+L D&R management to provide them with their talking points for their interviews with the investment community.

Agreed, with such scientific naivety B+L D&R management will play the new Valeant management like a fiddle. Bottom line. Nothing will change in D&R. Same management, same strategy, same everything.

 

[Anonymous]

There is nothing in the Goldman Sachs interview that is a Valeant perspective on B+L R&D. The CFO admits in the interview that he is just mentioning what WP told him about the B+L R&D program. Until Valeant actually owns B+L and places their own people into key positions within the organization so that they can gather real information on the B+L technology they cannot make any real decisions on how much to spend in R&D or whether to layoff or not.

You just do not make billion dollar decisions without any solid information. Valeant certainly makes quick decisions but they will at least spend two weeks after they own the company gathering information before they make drastic cuts and layoffs.

There is really no way to judge what is going on here. Talk is cheap. Valeant's actions after they take over and execute on their plan is what investors will look at. If Valeant says it will cut 800 million to the investment community and then does nothing to streamline the organization or to improve the efficiency and outlook of R&D, investors will take notice and the stock price will drop.

Valeant is not necessarily starting off on the right foot here. The discussion about whether R&D should be called D&R is really just ridiculous. Investors are not stupid. If you think that calling R&D D&R will increase the value of your stock then the investment community will certainly punish you. Investors will ask in a few months what is going to be done with R&D to improve efficiency and insure that both short term and long term there will be a reasonable pipeline that will keep Valeant ahead of the competition. If the change at B&L is only about rewriting the English language or switching words around then Lomb & Bausch will soon become a penny stock on the New York Stock Exchange.

 

[Anonymous]

There is nothing in the Goldman Sachs interview that is a Valeant perspective on B+L R&D. The CFO admits in the interview that he is just mentioning what WP told him about the B+L R&D program. Until Valeant actually owns B+L and places their own people into key positions within the organization so that they can gather real information on the B+L technology they cannot make any real decisions on how much to spend in R&D or whether to layoff or not.

You just do not make billion dollar decisions without any solid information. Valeant certainly makes quick decisions but they will at least spend two weeks after they own the company gathering information before they make drastic cuts and layoffs.

There is really no way to judge what is going on here. Talk is cheap. Valeant's actions after they take over and execute on their plan is what investors will look at. If Valeant says it will cut 800 million to the investment community and then does nothing to streamline the organization or to improve the efficiency and outlook of R&D, investors will take notice and the stock price will drop.

Valeant is not necessarily starting off on the right foot here. The discussion about whether R&D should be called D&R is really just ridiculous. Investors are not stupid. If you think that calling R&D D&R will increase the value of your stock then the investment community will certainly punish you. Investors will ask in a few months what is going to be done with R&D to improve efficiency and insure that both short term and long term there will be a reasonable pipeline that will keep Valeant ahead of the competition. If the change at B&L is only about rewriting the English language or switching words around then Lomb & Bausch will soon become a penny stock on the New York Stock Exchange.

Valeant has to be more open than WP about what is going on. Investors will be watching.

 

[Anonymous]

There is nothing in the Goldman Sachs interview that is a Valeant perspective on B+L R&D. The CFO admits in the interview that he is just mentioning what WP told him about the B+L R&D program. Until Valeant actually owns B+L and places their own people into key positions within the organization so that they can gather real information on the B+L technology they cannot make any real decisions on how much to spend in R&D or whether to layoff or not.

You just do not make billion dollar decisions without any solid information. Valeant certainly makes quick decisions but they will at least spend two weeks after they own the company gathering information before they make drastic cuts and layoffs.

There is really no way to judge what is going on here. Talk is cheap. Valeant's actions after they take over and execute on their plan is what investors will look at. If Valeant says it will cut 800 million to the investment community and then does nothing to streamline the organization or to improve the efficiency and outlook of R&D, investors will take notice and the stock price will drop.

Valeant is not necessarily starting off on the right foot here. The discussion about whether R&D should be called D&R is really just ridiculous. Investors are not stupid. If you think that calling R&D D&R will increase the value of your stock then the investment community will certainly punish you. Investors will ask in a few months what is going to be done with R&D to improve efficiency and insure that both short term and long term there will be a reasonable pipeline that will keep Valeant ahead of the competition. If the change at B&L is only about rewriting the English language or switching words around then Lomb & Bausch will soon become a penny stock on the New York Stock Exchange.

Another brilliant post! I love the part that Valeant will take at least two weeks to evaluate who should stay or who should be laid off. Let’s do the math, over 12,000 employees, several business units as well as a totally different product line, a promise to the street of $800 million in “synergies” (one of Mike’s favorite terms), completed in two weeks? Seriously most companies can’t get their routine yearly goals approved in two weeks.
Frankly, this conversation is tiring and insulting. Anyone out there that can say with a straight face that the type of evaluation necessary to assess the employee base and the headcount necessary to run the business efficiently and compliantly in two weeks is either benighted or unethical, neither of which is flattering.
Mike is after numbers for the stock, and he does not give a second thought to who goes or who stays. This is a fact, and it is cannot be disputed. Quick to make decisions might not e be a good thing if it’s a billion dollar decision. His fiduciary obligation seems as short live as Ken Lay & Bernie Madoff. One can only hope that he gets caught like they did. If you own stock, sell before you lose it all!

 

[Anonymous]

being laid off sucks, dealing with it now with another family member. however you have to understand it was always the plan. if you joined B&L any time in the past 4 years you made a very bad career choice. If you stayed the last four, you planned poorly. The stock will go up with the more people they lay off. Blindly laying off the masses is actually the most ethical. No one is being discriminated against or singled out. It's about mass casualties based on whichever HR priorities they put in place. tenure most likely.

They could take all the B&L products, roll them into their own structure, liquidate half the headcount (which they will over time), sell off buidlings, and the stock will go up up up.

get out. get another job.

 

[Anonymous]

There has been a lot of over-hiring in R&D in the last few years. This was probably mainly done as a hedge against this sort of thing. An inevitable cut of 20%. Since the managers over-hired by at least 30% they could offer up 1 third of their work force and nothing will be affected.

The cuts likely coming will be much more than 30% and will include managers, Directors, VPs etc. So much for planning for a layoff. B+L R&D already has the 30% people lined up to offer to Valeant. Whether Valeant trusts B+L that they put the right list together or will make up their own list will be seen in the next few months.

 

[Anonymous]

Yep. D&R Management are good at appearing useful. McKinsey could check it out - how long is each person there, what do they do, do they represent value for salary ? What happens if that position is eliminated ? Really, there are a lot of people who are collecting a cheque and not delivering. Puts all our jobs at risk. Could drop 30% D&R - easy.