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Bayer Acquired Monsanto for $66 Billion: Deal Terms, Divestitures and Litigation

Bayer completed its $66 billion Monsanto acquisition in 2018 after agreeing to antitrust divestitures. Here are the deal terms, timeline and proposed 2026 Roundup settlement update.
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Bayer completed its acquisition of Monsanto on June 7, 2018, after agreeing to pay $128 per share in cash. Bayer valued the transaction at $66 billion when it was announced in 2016. U.S. antitrust conditions required roughly $9 billion in divestitures to BASF, and Monsanto-related Roundup litigation remains a significant part of the deal’s legacy.

How much did Bayer pay for Monsanto?

On September 14, 2016, Bayer and Monsanto announced a definitive merger agreement. Bayer offered $128 in cash for each Monsanto share. Bayer described the aggregate transaction value as $66 billion and said the offer represented a 44% premium to Monsanto’s closing share price on May 9, 2016. Those figures describe the announced terms; the $128 was the per-share cash consideration, while $66 billion was the headline aggregate value. Bayer and Monsanto’s announcement also forecast approximately $1.5 billion in annual EBITDA contributions from total synergies after the third year. That was a projection, not evidence of realized results.

When did Bayer acquire Monsanto?

Bayer announced that it completed the acquisition on June 7, 2018. Monsanto became Bayer’s wholly owned subsidiary, and Monsanto shares ceased trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Bayer said Monsanto would operate independently until the divestitures required under U.S. approval were completed. Bayer’s closing announcement said Monsanto shareholders were paid $128 per share.

Why did the U.S. require divestitures?

The U.S. Department of Justice identified competition concerns in seeds and crop protection, including horizontal and vertical overlaps and risks to innovation. Its May 29, 2018 announcement said Bayer had to divest assets and businesses valued at approximately $9 billion to BASF. The remedy included seed and herbicide operations, certain seed-treatment businesses, intellectual property and pipeline research and development, and Bayer’s nascent digital-agriculture business. The DOJ described the structural remedy as necessary to preserve competition for farmers and consumers.

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What Bayer had to sell

  • Cotton, canola, soybean and vegetable seed businesses.
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These conditions mean the combined company did not retain the entire portfolio Bayer and Monsanto had when the transaction was announced. The DOJ case record lists a final judgment dated February 8, 2019; the transaction proceeded subject to structural remedies, not unconditional approval. The DOJ case page provides the judgment and related case documents.

What is the current Roundup litigation update?

In a February 17, 2026 release, Bayer said Monsanto had announced a proposed nationwide U.S. class settlement intended to resolve current and future Roundup claims alleging non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Bayer described payments totaling up to $7.25 billion over as many as 21 years, subject to approval by a Missouri state court. The proposed process included notice to class members and an opportunity to opt out. These are proposed terms as Bayer reported them on that date, not a court-approved resolution. Bayer’s release does not establish whether a court later approved the settlement.

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Bayer said, subject to final audit, the resolutions would raise its litigation provisions and liabilities from €7.8 billion to €11.8 billion, including an increase in the glyphosate portion from €6.5 billion to €9.6 billion. The company also estimated litigation-related payouts of about €5 billion in 2026 and expected negative free cash flow for that year. These are company-reported estimates and forecasts, not final audited figures or court findings.

What the settlement does—and does not—resolve

Bayer said the proposed settlement contains no admission of liability or wrongdoing and reiterated its position on glyphosate safety. That is Bayer’s position; the settlement announcement should not be read as an adjudication of the underlying allegations. Bayer also said a separate Supreme Court case would remain unaffected and concerned whether federal law preempts certain state failure-to-warn claims.

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What the deal’s legacy means for understanding its cost

The $66 billion figure captures the transaction’s announced aggregate value, but it does not by itself describe the full subsequent business or financial picture. Antitrust divestitures reshaped the assets Bayer retained, while litigation connected with Monsanto products continues to affect Bayer’s reported provisions, liabilities and cash-flow outlook. The available figures for that ongoing exposure are Bayer’s estimates, and the Roundup class settlement described in February 2026 remained subject to court approval in that announcement.

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