Even including AOL/Time Warner the Monsanto purchase by Bayer has to rank as the worst acquisition of all time.
From Reuters via AgWeb:
A U.S. judge rejected Bayer's $2 billion class action proposal to resolve future lawsuits alleging its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer, saying in a Wednesday order that parts of the plan were "clearly unreasonable."
U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco said the proposal "would accomplish a lot for Monsanto," which Bayer acquired for $63 billion in 2018, and "would accomplish far less for the Roundup users" who are currently healthy.
The agreement would have paused litigation linking Roundup to non-Hodgkin lymphoma for four years and would have barred Roundup users from seeking punitive damages once the pause on litigation expired.
In return, users could be eligible for free medical exams and compensation if they were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
The proposed class action settlement was aimed at claims by people who have been exposed to the weedkiller and who become sick in the future.
Bayer has committed up to $9.6 billion to resolve some 125,000 existing cancer claims...
....MUCH MORE
May 19, 2021
"Judge raises doubts ahead of hearing on Bayer's $2 bln Roundup settlement deal"
April 21, 2021
Value Destruction: Bayer's Acquisition Of Monsanto And The Lawsuit Against Bank of America, Credit Suisse, and Bayer's Board
March 2019
Bayer Battered After Suffering "Major Blow" From Second RoundUp Cancer-Trial Loss
January 2019
Safe Or Not, Monsanto's Roundup Is Toxic for Bayer—Spiegel
November 2018
Ahead of Tomorrow's Q3 Report: "Agricultural Venture Capital at Bayer"
Except for the fact the company bought Monsanto with its top-selling Roundup herbicide brand, for $63 billion, despite the fact Germany itself is going to outlaw the stuff, except for the $289 million initial verdict on a cancer case,* everything is going swimmingly.
