Pfizer

Basic information April 1, 2004

Ownership status:

Publicly traded

Number of employees worldwide:

98,000

Website:

http://www.pfizer.com/

Tel:

212-573-2323

Fax:

212-573-7851

Corporate accountability

Brief company history:

Pfizer began with a loan from Charles Pfizer to his son in 1849 in Brooklyn, NY. Originally the company was a chemical manufacturer focused on making iodine preparations and tartaric acid. They incorporated in 1900 as Charles Pfizer and Co. and continued to function primarily as a chemical company. In 1923 they had their first breakthrough, when they discovered how to produce cirtric acid by fermenting sugar. This proved fortuitous later, in 1942, when the Office of Scientific Research and Development contacted Pfizer to see if their expertise in deep-vat fermentation would allow them to help produce penicillin for the war effort. During this period, Pfizer’s sales exploded from $27 million in 1945 to $43 million in 1946.

In 1950 they introduced their first major drug product developed in-house: Terramycin. Pfizer used, then unconventional, promotional tactics to convince doctors to prescribe Terramycin and the success of these methods(which included giving doctors gifts along with free samples) were rapidly copied throughout the industry. [WSJ, June 4, 1954, p 8, “Pfizer success story”]. During the 1960’s, with the threat of price-conrols looming, they moved in lock-stop with other pharmaceutical companies to diversify, purchasing: Visine, Ben-Gay, Barbasol Shaving Cream, Coty Cosmetics and others. But by the late 1970s and early 1980s this diversification had proven unsuccessful and Pfizer redirected its efforts back towards healthcare.

More recently Pfizer has pursued a series of high-profile mergers with companies like Warner-Lambert and Pharmacia that have helped propel it into its current position as the largest pharmaceutical company in the world.

At the end of 2006, Pfizer sold its Consumer Healthcare business for $16.6 billion to Johnson & Johnson. This helped bolster their overall profit for the year by $7.9 billion and help explain the dramatic rise in their profits for the year. While some analysts criticized the sale, it appeared consistent with their desire to focus exclusively on prescription products.

Financial information

Detailed financial information

Fortune 500 position:

39

Total revenue:

$48,370,000,000

Net Income:

$19,337,000,000

List of largest shareholders:

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mh?s=PFE

Location

Headquarters

235 E. 42nd St.

New York, NY, 10017

United States

Additional information:

Pfizer Inc is a multinational pharmaceutical company founded in 1851. It is the world's largest research-based pharmaceuticals corporation. Some of its products are Viagra - for erectile dysfunction, Celebrex - for pain management, Zoloft - for depression, and Lipitor - for lowering cholesterol. Warner-Lambert and Parke-Davis are two of its subsidiaries.

Additional descriptive data

Major units/subsidiaries/affiliates:

* Embrex

* Warner-Lambert

* Parke-Davis

* Animal Health Group

* Pfizer Austria

* Pfizer Canada

* Pfizer Denmark

* Pfizer Europe

* Pfizer Global Research and Development

* Pfizer Ireland

* Pfizer Italy

* Pfizer Japan

* Pfizer Malaysia - Singapore

* Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Group

* Pfizer Spain

* Pfizer Sweden

* Pfizer Taiwan

* Pfizer Turkey

Investor website:

http://www.pfizer.com/investors