Oracle of Omaha Bets on Teva
Teva Pharmaceuticals soared on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Thursday following gains in New York after billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway took a $358 million bet on the troubled generic drugs giant.
Teva was up some 8% in Tel Aviv on Thursday afternoon, following on gains of 8.64% in after-hours trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday after Berkshire’s quarterly reports revealed that Oracle of Omaha had bought 19 million shares to take a 1.8% stake in the company.
Teva’s share price has plummeted in recent months as it struggles with the debt burden on its 2016 $40 billion acquisition of Allergan’s generic division Actavis, overwall weakness in the generics industry and the loss of exclusivity on Copaxone, its flagship treatment for multiple sclerosis.
In December, just over a month after Danish pharmaceuticals executive Kare Schultz took over as CEO, Teva said it would cut 25 percent of its global workforce, or about 14,000 jobs, including 1750 jobs in Israel.
As part of its cutbacks in Israel, the company announced Thursday that it would be laying off 220 employees and closings its Plantex factory in Netanya.
