Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) is letting go of about 400 workers from its DePuy Synthes orthopedics division, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
The cuts, part of larger reorganization efforts for the division, represent about 2% of the unit’s 23,000 workforce. A company spokesperson told the Journal that more than 80 new positions were created alongside the cuts.
The DePuy Synthes unit was created when J&J acquired orthopedics giant Synthes for $21.3 billion in 2012, merging it with its own DePuy subsidiary. The deal was more than a year in the making. Johnson & Johnson confirmed rumors that it was in talks with Swiss device maker Synthes in April 2011 in a deal that, when consummated, became the biggest in J&J history.
In a video message distributed to employees yesterday, global orthopedics group chair Michael Orsinger explained that the cuts were necessary to allow DePuy Synthes to bear "seismic shifts" in the healthcare market, according to the report.
The subsidiary has weathered some significant setbacks in recent months, working through a raft of patient injury lawsuits over DePuy’s metal-on-metal knee implants as well as Stryker‘s (NYSE:SYK) claims of salesforce poaching in California.