Bayer’s Cash Drain: Legal Bills Swallow Billions as a New CFO Takes the Helm

Bayer slashes dividend to €0.11 amid €30B debt and Roundup lawsuits; Supreme Court decision by June could unlock $7.25B settlement and reshape legal future.

The math at Bayer is brutally simple. The company plans to spend roughly €5 billion on litigation this year alone, while its net financial debt sits at nearly €30 billion. For shareholders, the consequence landed on April 29: a dividend of just €0.11 per share, the legal minimum. Finance chief Wolfgang Nickl justified the token payout as necessary to shore up the balance sheet, but the message was unmistakable — the past is costing the present.

That past is Roundup. The glyphosate-based weedkiller has generated a tidal wave of lawsuits linking it to non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and Bayer is now waiting on a decision from the US Supreme Court that could reshape its legal landscape entirely. The company argues that federal law — specifically the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) — should preempt state-level warning requirements. Since the Environmental Protection Agency approved Roundup’s label without a cancer warning, Bayer contends the lawsuits are invalid. The Trump administration has backed that position in court. A ruling is expected by the end of June.

Parallel to the Supreme Court proceedings, Bayer is pushing forward with a proposed class settlement worth up to $7.25 billion aimed at resolving both current and future claims. If the high court rules in Bayer’s favor, that settlement could become the legal off-ramp the company has been searching for — ending years of uncertainty and billions in cash outflows.

The financial strain is visible in the share price. Bayer stock trades at around €38.38, roughly 22% below its 52-week high of €49.17. Over the past week alone, the shares have dropped about 7%. Yet over the last twelve months, the stock has still managed a gain of more than 67% — a reminder of how far the company has fallen from its former heights, and also how much ground it has recovered.

Operationally, the picture is more encouraging. For the 2025 fiscal year, Bayer posted revenue of €45.6 billion and adjusted earnings per share of €4.91. CEO Bill Anderson’s restructuring program, dubbed “Dynamic Shared Ownership,” has already eliminated roughly 14,000 positions and collapsed multiple layers of management. The goal is to reach sustainable cost savings of €2 billion by the end of 2026. The supervisory board has signaled its support by extending Anderson’s contract through early 2029.

But the restructuring has not yet won over all investors. At the annual general meeting last week, representatives from Deka, DWS, and Union Investment praised the operational recovery, yet still voted to discharge the board. Proxy advisers ISS and Glass Lewis also recommended approval. Behind the scenes, the debate over Bayer’s future structure remains unresolved. Deka is pushing for an open-ended review of the corporate structure, arguing that operational improvements alone are insufficient without structural consequences once legal clarity arrives. Union Investment, by contrast, backs Anderson’s decision to postpone any potential spin-off of the Consumer Health division. DWS has warned against moving too slowly on possible divestitures.

Marc Tüngler of the German Association for the Protection of Securities Holders captured the frustration succinctly: “Our cash flow isn’t flowing into the future, where it belongs — it’s flowing into the past.”

The legal and financial timelines are about to converge. The Supreme Court decision in June will land just as Judith Hartmann takes over as chief financial officer on June 1, replacing Nickl after nearly a decade. Hartmann arrives from Engie and Bertelsmann, stepping into a company where the CFO’s primary job may well be managing the balance sheet through a legal endgame. If the court rules in Bayer’s favor, it clears the path for the multibillion-dollar settlement and could finally stop the cash drain. If not, the €5 billion earmarked for litigation this year may only be the beginning.

Bayer will release its first-quarter results on May 12. Management has guided for adjusted EBITDA of between €9.6 billion and €10.1 billion for the full year. The numbers will show whether the operational turnaround is gaining traction — but the real test remains in Washington.