J&J's Intraday Plunge Wipes Out $45 Billion
- Report that company knew of asbestos risk spurs stock plunge
- Analysts say reaction is overblown and report isn’t ‘new news’
Johnson & Johnson baby powder
Photographer: Scott Eells/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Johnson & Johnson’s drop of 11 percent in Friday’s trading may bring on deja vu for some investors after a Reuters report said the company knew for decades that asbestos was sometimes present in its baby powder.
Bloomberg News reported in September 2017 that documents unsealed in a lawsuit showed that J&J has known for decades that its talc products include asbestos fibers and that the exposure to those fibers can cause ovarian cancer.