Teva CEO Rejects Netanyahu Plea to Salvage Jerusalem Plant
- Drugmaker aims to close Jerusalem manufacturing site by 2019
- Teva, government to form committee to retrain fired workers
The Jerusalem Teva plant.
Photographer: Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. chief Kare Schultz rebuffed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s personal plea to spare hundreds of local employees from job cuts, saying “painful” steps were necessary to keep the troubled homegrown drug giant from becoming a takeover target.
Schultz stood fast by plans to close a Jerusalem factory that employs about 800 people by the end of 2019, over the objections of Netanyahu, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and Economy Minister Eli Cohen, who met with him on Tuesday, according to an emailed statement from the company. Teva, the world’s largest generic drugmaker, said it will work with the government to train fired workers for new jobs.