BioNTech’s €677.5 Million Quarterly Loss Deepens as 1,860 Job Cuts and Founder Exit Reshape the Group

BioNTech posts €677.5M operating loss, cuts 22% of jobs, and plans CEO exit as it bets on 15 Phase III oncology trials by 2030.

The German biotech group is burning through cash at an accelerating pace as it pivots from pandemic-era blockbuster sales to a high-stakes oncology bet. BioNTech posted an operating loss of €677.5 million in the first quarter of 2026, more than double the €531.9 million net loss recorded in the same period last year, as revenues slumped to €118.1 million from €182.8 million.

Management is taking the pain deliberately. Research and development spending is running at full throttle as the company builds out a cancer pipeline that now encompasses 15 ongoing Phase III trials. The goal: regulatory approvals for ten oncology indications by 2030.

The COVID vaccine business, which once made BioNTech a household name, is being wound down. Production is being handed over entirely to partner Pfizer, and the company plans to close four manufacturing and operational sites — Idar-Oberstein, Marburg, Tübingen and Singapore — by the end of 2027. The restructuring will eliminate roughly 1,860 positions, or about 22 percent of the global workforce, and is expected to generate annual savings of around €500 million from 2029 onward.

The share price has taken a beating. BioNTech’s stock lost nearly ten percent over the past week, closing at €79.45 on Friday — well below its 200-day moving average of €87.36 and its 50-day average of €83. The market is grappling with a triple shock: deepening losses, a sweeping restructuring, and the impending departure of the company’s founders.

Chief Executive Ugur Sahin and Chief Medical Officer Özlem Türeci plan to step down from their operational roles by the end of 2026. The husband-and-wife team, who became scientific celebrities during the pandemic, intend to launch a new venture focused on early-stage drug discovery. The leadership transition is being timed to coincide with the expected market debut of BioNTech’s first cancer immunotherapies.

The company is trying to steady investor nerves with a $1 billion share buyback program, approved on May 7 and running through May 2027. The repurchase, covering American Depositary Shares representing roughly 4.2 percent of outstanding equity, will be funded from BioNTech’s €16.8 billion cash pile. Analysts at Canaccord Genuity have trimmed their price target to $158, while the consensus median stands at $131.65 — still well above the current trading level.

A separate setback came in the COVID vaccine business. A large US adult study conducted jointly with Pfizer was halted after strict eligibility criteria excluded common conditions such as high blood pressure, making it impossible to recruit enough healthy volunteers.

Despite these headwinds, BioNTech is pressing ahead with its oncology push. The company has launched five new registration studies in partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb and is consolidating its manufacturing capacity to support the pipeline. The next major catalyst comes in the second half of 2026, when management is due to release interim data from pivotal Phase III trials.

The company reiterated its full-year revenue guidance of €2.0 billion to €2.3 billion, with the bulk of sales expected in the second half driven by the autumn and winter COVID vaccine season. Whether the stock can recover its lost ground will depend on how smoothly the leadership handover proceeds — and whether the first oncology approvals arrive on schedule.