- Bayer (OTCPK:BAYRY) opens -9% in European trading following Friday's decision by a California jury ordering the company to pay nearly $290M for failing to warn a dying man that Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller might cause cancer.
- Jurors unanimously found that Monsanto, whose merger with Bayer still must be approved by U.S. regulators, acted with "malice" and that Roundup and the professional grade RangerPro version contributed "substantially" to the man's terminal illness.
- California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said Friday he was leading a coalition of five states opposing the merger based on concerns over the concentration of the seed market.
- The $66B deal already has received approval from regulators in the European Union, Russia and Brazil, making U.S. approval one of the last major hurdles.