Word: genentech
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Roche recently bought Genentech (DNA), a company in which it was already the largest shareholder. That deal was not just about firing. Biotech operations like Genentech are the next generation of pharma companies. Roche wants in on that action. It had the tremendous advantage of only having to buy part of the shares in Genentech. Aside from getting customers and new products, Roche got control of the whole company and merely had to acquire 44% of the shares...
...companies to work for: No. 1 is NetApp, which gives workers five paid days of volunteer work, adoption aid, autism coverage--and has gained market share, avoided layoffs and banked $2 billion in cash for these rainy days. Wegmans supermarkets (No. 5) offer workers free yoga classes; biotech leader Genentech (No. 7) features paid sabbaticals, on-site child care and a fitness center; its revenues jumped 25% last quarter. Hewlett suggests even struggling companies that have moved to a four-day workweek rather than fire people may promote both morale and quality of life...
...surprising, Genentech's own board balked at the offer, which came to $89 a share. That price will surely rise--to more than $100 a share, by some estimates--but the deal will almost definitely go through. Nonetheless, Roche will have to work hard to hang on to Genentech's laid-back culture, one that has always attracted top minds. "They know there won't be the same flexibility and creativity Genentech is known for," says biotech analyst Geoff Porges of Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. "Roche is perhaps the industry's most brilliant acquirer, but it has never shown...
Schwan argues that taking over Genentech will, in fact, allow it to focus even more on the science at its core. But he also recognizes the need for freedom. "Genentech research needs to stay autonomous," Schwan says. "That is the key to preserving the specific culture they have...
Roche, however, retains one key advantage: it has already seen its own line of attack succeed. The proof? Roche's first targeted breast-cancer drug, Herceptin. Developed by Genentech, Herceptin was marketed specifically to destroy cancers containing the her-2/neu protein, which doctors can detect using a 21-gene screen diagnostic. Herceptin has helped thousands of women combat breast cancer. But there's no doubt it has also helped Roche's bottom line: at $40,000 a year per patient, Herceptin grew globally in sales nearly 25%, to $4.1 billion, last year. "You need self-confidence to take risks...