It was announced today that Roche will acquire Genentech for $95 a share – that’s $46.8 billion!  Mind you that acquisition is only for the 44% of Genentech that Roche does not currently own.  That’s right, Roche already owns 56% of Genentech.  

Roche, based in Basel, Switzerland, has insisted that it will allow Genentech’s drug discovery and early-stage clinical trial activities to be run independently. Moreover, because Roche’s existing drugs will be marketed in the United States under the Genentech name, the brand will endure.

Many of Roche’s American workers will be asked to move from the company’s United States headquarters in Nutley, N.J., to South San Francisco, Calif., where Genentech is based.

Other workers in Nutley and South San Francisco are likely to lose their jobs, although executives would not say how large the layoffs would be. But layoffs are not expected in the sales forces.