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FRANKFURT: Investor concerns that Bayer’s earnings were inflated by soccer player transfer fees rather than supported by its core health care and agriculture businesses helped send its shares plummeting nearly 5 percent to a one-month low on Wednesday.

The German maker of pharmaceuticals and crop protection products reported in unscheduled preliminary results last week that second-quarter operating income, adjusted for some items, came in at a better-than-expected 2.1 billion euros ($2.43 billion).

In a more detailed disclosure on Wednesday, however, it said those results included higher revenue from its German Bundesliga team Bayer Leverkusen resulting from player transfers.

Bayer shares were down 4.7 percent at 0958 GMT.

Fresh details in Wednesday’s disclosure indicating that Bayer’s performance was also more the result of established blood thinner Xarelto than newer drugs with longer patent protection contributed to the stock selloff as well.

“The detail of the beat being somewhat related to Xarelto and the sale of a footballer could be disappointing to some,” JPMorgan analysts said in a note.

British media reported in June that Premier League champions Liverpool had agreed a fee of 136.3 million euros to sign Bayer Leverkusen attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz.

Bayer’s finance chief Wolfgang Nickl, however, would not provide details on the transfer earnings on Wednesday.

“If we have these transfers, we need to compare the book value with the prices that we get, and that can lead to an extraordinary result on several players, and that was just recorded last quarter,” he said during a call with journalists.

JOB CUTS, ROUNDUP PROVISIONS
Bayer also said it has now cut around 12,000 full-time positions since the start of a restructuring program aimed at speeding up decision-making and reducing managerial and administrative positions.

A previous tally for jobs slashed in 2024 was at 7,000.

The total number of global employees at the end of June stood at close to 90,000 when counted in full-time equivalents, according to its quarterly report.

Bayer, which is burdened by US lawsuits claiming its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer, has said it is holding off on breaking up the diversified group even as some investors call for a sale of the consumer health unit or separate stock market listing for its crop science division.

It reiterated that it would have to stop US production of key Roundup ingredient glyphosate unless lawmakers, courts or regulators help it further stave off the costly litigation.

Bayer said last week it had added 1.2 billion euros to its provisions for the Roundup litigation.

Total Roundup litigation provisions totalled $7.4 billion, or 6.3 billion euros, it said on Wednesday.

LOS ANGELES: Son Heung-min agreed to a contract with Los Angeles FC on Tuesday, finalizing his move to Major League Soccer after a decade at Tottenham Hotspur.
The 33-year-old South Korean superstar forward is joining LAFC three days after he formally announced his decision to leave Tottenham.
Son attended LAFC’s Leagues Cup match against Tigres at BMO Stadium on Tuesday night, watching from a luxury suite. LAFC will formally introduce Son at a news conference Wednesday, but the club showed the forward on the stadium video board late in the first half as he waved to roaring fans thrilled by their team’s landmark acquisition.
LAFC, a deep-pocketed club with significant team success in its first eight seasons of existence, reportedly paid a transfer fee of more than $20 million, which could end up being the most ever for an MLS move.
Son was a beloved presence at Spurs, scoring 173 goals in 454 competitive appearances for the North London club while rising to global prominence with his combination of speed, playmaking skill and finishing acumen.
The captain was given a memorable farewell last week in Seoul during Tottenham’s exhibition match against Newcastle, getting a guard of honor from both teams and tearfully exiting in the second half while nearly 65,000 fans roared.
But South Korea’s most popular athlete — and almost certainly the greatest Asian soccer player in history — has chosen an auspicious stage for the next chapter of his groundbreaking career.
Los Angeles has the world’s largest ethnic Korean population outside Korea, with the city’s vibrant Koreatown district sitting just a couple of miles from LAFC’s BMO Stadium.
LAFC is undoubtedly hoping to market Son as a soccer counterpart to the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, albeit on a smaller scale. Ohtani, the three-time MLB MVP from Japan who is on a trajectory to become the greatest Asian player in baseball history, draws fans from across the Pacific Rim to Dodger Stadium while attracting millions in sponsorships and partnerships for the Dodgers.
Son’s move to California also puts him in position to make an impact on and off the field at the World Cup, which will be held across North America in 2026. Son, the captain of his national team, already has said he will play in his fourth World Cup.
After leading Tottenham to its first European trophy in decades by winning the Europa League in May in a fitting cap to his English career, Son will go straight into the MLS Cup race when suits up for his new club. LAFC currently sits sixth in the Western Conference at 10-6-6, but with multiple games in hand on every team in front of it because of its participation in the Club World Cup.
Son’s seven Premier League goals last season were his fewest since his Tottenham debut, but he still appears to have the pace and skill necessary to be a difference-maker at any level. He also turned 33 only a month ago, putting him on the younger end of the global stars recently arriving in MLS.
Lionel Messi and Marco Reus were 35 and Luis Suárez was 37 when they went stateside in recent years, while Olivier Giroud and Hugo Lloris were both 37 when they joined LAFC last year.
Son will be reunited in Los Angeles with longtime Tottenham teammate Lloris, who has been outstanding since becoming LAFC’s goalkeeper last season.
High-scoring French forward Denis Bouanga is the only designated player currently under contract for LAFC, and general manager John Thorrington has been criticized by some fans for not using the full power of his financial resources this season. LAFC spent months on an ultimately failed attempt to get France’s Antoine Griezmann to leave Atlético Madrid.
Bouanga and Son have both thrived on the left wing during their careers, but Son likely has more positional versatility than Bouanga, making him a candidate to line up in the middle or even on the right wing.
Son seems to be an infinitely better fit for LAFC than Giroud, who moved to Lille last month after one disappointing year in California. LAFC plays a counterattacking, speed-based style that didn’t suit Giroud’s goal-scoring strengths, while Son should be right at home in such a system.
But LAFC also could alter its style in the winter after coach Steve Cherundolo departs for Germany following four largely successful seasons highlighted by an MLS Cup championship.