AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb Are Talking, and the Number on the Table Is 400 Billion Dollars

AstraZeneca is weighing a merger with the American group Bristol Myers Squibb, according to the Financial Times, which cites people familiar with the matter. The two companies have been discussing a combination for several months. Talks are still live and could produce an agreement in the near future, though they may equally slow down or end without one.

The arithmetic explains the attention. AstraZeneca, the second most valuable listed company in the United Kingdom, is worth around 196 billion pounds, or about 260 billion dollars. Bristol Myers Squibb is capitalised at roughly 133 billion dollars. Put together, the group would be worth close to 400 billion dollars and would rank fourth among the world's drugmakers by market value, making this one of the largest deals in the history of the industry and one of the most significant mergers of recent years anywhere.

For Pascal Soriot, chief executive since 2012, it would be a reversal worth noting. It was Soriot who in 2014 rejected Pfizer's takeover approach and chose to grow the British company on its own. AstraZeneca has since rebuilt its position, becoming one of the leading players in oncology worldwide through new drugs and a series of targeted acquisitions. It is now aiming for 80 billion dollars of revenue by 2030, against 58,7 billion recorded in 2025.

The two companies arrive at the table from different places. Bristol Myers Squibb, which bought Celgene in 2019 for 74 billion dollars, is working to offset the gradual expiry of patents on several of its leading drugs, a loss that could weigh on revenue over the coming years. A merger would put two of the sector's most important portfolios together, with particular strength in oncology, the therapeutic area doing most to drive growth across the industry.

Investors took it cautiously. AstraZeneca fell more than 7 percent in early London trading before recovering about a point, a move that reads as a verdict on the cost, the timetable and the sheer complexity of an integration this size rather than on the logic of it. Bristol Myers Squibb was little changed on the New York Stock Exchange, up 0,7 percent.