Celgene Promises Bonuses to Pharmion Employees Who Remain With the Company
When was the last time that you heard that a company which was acquiring another one was willing to pay employees bonuses to induce them to remain at the company until the acquisition was complete? Usually, acquisitions are followed by corporate right-sizing and job layoffs! Sometimes good things happen to good people!
As many of you may know, Summit, NJ -based Celgene (the company that turned thalidomide, a product with a long history of serious safety issues, into a safe and efficacious multi-million dollar treatment for leprosy and certain types of cancer) announced plans last November to acquire Denver, CO-based Pharmion for $2.9 billion.
To make the transition smoother, Celgene announced today that it would offer bonuses to Pharmion employees who remain with the company until the acquisition is complete. According to a Celgene representative, Pharmion workers hired by the Nov. 18 announcement of the $2.9 billion sale will qualify to receive pay 25 percent above their normal pay grade for staying on until June 1; staying between then and the end of the year triggers 50 percent pay bonuses. The bonuses apply to all non-field sales employees. Executive staff with contracts that spell out departure payments will receive different payments.
Celgene plans to make Pharmion a wholly-owned subsidiary and, in doing so, pickup the right to distribute the treatments for myelodysplastic syndromes and other drugs that Pharmion has been seeking regulatory approval in the United States and Europe.
Pharmion employed about 550 people, about 50 of whom worked at its Boulder headquarters. The rest were spread among offices in Overland Park, Kan., San Francisco, London and elsewhere.
Until next time…
Good Luck and Good Job Hunting (try Boulder after June 1st)!!!!!!!!!
