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Posted on Mon, Nov 9, 2009 : 3:38 p.m.

Ex-Ann Arbor Pfizer employees likely among those cut today

By Nathan Bomey

Here's an update on our analysis of Pfizer's major restructuring announcement today:

Some scientists who used to work at Pfizer's 174-acre Ann Arbor site were told today the site they transferred to would close.

A Pfizer spokesman confirmed that 112 workers formerly employed by the pharmaceutical giant in Ann Arbor were transferred to the company's site in St. Louis after Pfizer left this area.

Pfizer announced today that it would close its site in the St. Louis area, cutting some 600 jobs. It was not immediately clear how many ex-Ann Arbor Pfizer workers transferred to St. Louis were still working there.

Pfizer reportedly had recently invested $250 million in renovations at the St. Louis facilities - an eerie reminder of what happened in Ann Arbor, where Pfizer had spent $300 million in facility upgrades in the years leading up to its closure announcement.

Pfizer spokesman Rick Chambers said he could not confirm how many ex-Ann Arbor Pfizer workers were still working for the pharmaceutical company's St. Louis site after accepting transfers there.

"Movement happens in this company all the time," Chambers said.

As part of its downsizing in St. Louis, Pfizer said it would sell its 1.3-million-square-foot site there to Creve Coeur-based Monsanto for $435 million, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. That's more than four times the size of the $108 million sale price of Pfizer's 2-million-square-foot Ann Arbor campus to the University of Michigan.

The announcement comes nearly three years after the drugmaker said in January 2007 it would close its 30-building campus in Ann Arbor, displacing more than 2,100 workers.

About one-third of those workers accepted jobs with Pfizer. Another third are believed to have accepted jobs with other major pharmaceutical companies. Some 400 to 500 are believe to have stayed in Ann Arbor.

Contact AnnArbor.com's Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can also follow him on Twitter.

Comments

15crown00

Tue, Mar 15, 2011 : 10:26 p.m.

what a bad break. Phizer isn't exactly on the top of my list

PformerPfizer

Fri, Nov 13, 2009 : 11:24 p.m.

Rotfl Dr b deeja view all over again

Dr_B

Tue, Nov 10, 2009 : 3:03 p.m.

Looks like a case of deja vu all over again... The St. Louis paper ran an article stating that the local employees began to get nervous when Pfizer acquired Wyeth, but given that the company had just sunk $250 million into buildings and labs, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony in April was attended by CEO Jeff Kindler, and flowers were still being planted on the campus, they thought they were safe. Been there. Done that. These guys are nothing but corporate pirates who rape and pillage and leave destruction in their wake. I hope the shareholders are happy.