Pfizer Announces Layoffs as COVID Vaccine Revenue Slumps

Pfizer is slashing its headcount after announcing it was going to cut its full-year revenue forecast by 13 percent earlier this week amid slumping sales of its COVID-19 vaccine.

On October 13, the American pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation said it expected its revenue for 2023 to be between $58 billion and $61 billion, down from an initial forecast of between $67 billion and $70 billion.

The company earned record revenue topping $100 billion last year. Revenues from the COVID-19 vaccine developed with BioNTech and antiviral treatment Paxlovid alone made Pfizer more than $56 billion in revenues.

To make up for the lower-than-expected sales of its COVID-19 vaccine and treatment this year, Pfizer announced it will cut $3.5 billion-worth of jobs and expenses to gain savings through 2024, though it did not provide details on exactly how many people it will let go.

But the company did say that it expects to pay a one-time charge of $3 billion linked to its saving plan for 2023 and 2024, most of which would come from severance payments spurred by the job cuts.

"The program is expected to deliver targeted savings of at least $3.5 billion, of which $1 billion is expected to be realized in 2023 and an additional $2.5 billion is expected to be realized in 2024," a news release from Pfizer reads. "The one-time costs to achieve the savings associated with the new cost realignment program are expected to be approximately $3 billion, of which the majority is expected to be cash. These costs will primarily include severance and implementation costs."

The company is estimated to have about 83,000 employees worldwide.

Posts on social media say that Pfizer held a live stream with thousands of employees to announce the layoffs.

In a statement to Newsweek, Pfizer did not clearly address a question about the alleged live stream, writing: "We updated our plans last Friday in this release. And, as we said during our August 1st second earnings remarks, we are prepared to launch an enterprise-wide cost improvement program aligned with the longer-term revenue projections for our business. Details of this program will be shared over the coming months and as part of the full-year guidance for 2024."

According to screenshots shared on Reddit and allegedly taken from a live stream with Pfizer executives, employees were critical of the company, with one asking if the leadership team "will painfully readjust their salaries too."

"I wonder if there will be a readjustment to Albert [Bourla]'s $30M in annual compensation to make up for those of these layoffs," wrote another.

Albert Bourla is Pfizer's chairman and chief executive officer.

"Why are consistent dividends being touted when people's livelihoods are being dangled in front of them with no detail?," reads another screenshot.

Others commented on the "casual demeanor" of the Pfizer executives and "them laughing on the stage."

The person who shared the screenshots from the alleged live stream on Reddit wrote: "People were not happy when Albert said there would be job loss across the board and gave no information about it. Been checking my states WARN report and nothing yet for Pfizer… but there wasn't anything when we had layoffs earlier in the year earlier. This is frustrating."

They added: "Their casual, chill, laughing on stage is annoying. We know they aren't losing their jobs. They know that. They aren't taking a pay cut or losing bonuses. Just us. And nothing about severance? Ok."

Another person commented that the chat was "spicy" and said that someone asked Bourla about his bonus money.

While these comments could not be verified, they were widely shared online, where they have attracted much attention.

Update 10/20/23, 8:40 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include a statement from Pfizer.