It’s funny how company news comes and goes. Pfizer (PFE) was out of the spotlight for a weeks after the Wyeth (WYE) announcement, but has now been back in the news with its legal battles, CEO-speak and now its financials. Let’s see what’s going on with PFE today…

• PFE’s four-year “tour de layoffs” has cost the company $7B, according to an SEC filing. To date, PFE has spent $5.3B for employee-termination costs, including severance payments, pensions and post-retirement benefits, as well as costs associated with write-downs on properties, plants and equipment. PFE has axed 40,000 (yeah, 40,000) employees over the last five years, with 1,650 positions gone in Q1. The damage is not done either. PFE says that once the WYE merger is done, another 19,000 will get the axe with 8,000 coming from PFE and the rest from WYE. PFE expects the merger and restructuring will cost between $6-8B, but will reduce annual costs by $4B starting in 2012. [The Day]

• In other PFE news today, PFE’s stock price rose more than 5% (to $14.89 at the time of this post) after analyst Catherine Arnold of Credit Suisse said the benefits of the WYE acquisition were not yet reflected in the stock. Arnold also said “it would be surprising” if the company didn’t raise its dividend back up after the WYE deal closes in late 09. PFE recently POed its investors when it cut slashed its dividend in half, saying it was necessary to finance the WYE deal.  [MSN]

Stay tuned…

Image from ucdavis

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