Werner Baumann

In February 2016, Baumann was announced as the next CEO of Bayer, succeeding Marijn Dekkers. After only four weeks as CEO, Baumann launched a US$62 billion all cash takeover bid for Monsanto, an American agricultural, seed, and agrochemical company. The acquisition took over 20 months to complete and closed on 7 June 2018.

Baumann began to grow through the ranks and went on to hold the position of chief financial officer and chief of strategy. As chief of strategy, Baumann played a key role in the Bayer AG acquisition of Schering in 2006.

Baumann began working for Bayer, the German multinational, pharmaceutical and life sciences company, in 1988. He started his career in the finance department and later worked under Werner Wenning, current chairman of the supervisory board, as his assistant in Bayer's Spanish business division.

Werner Baumann (born 6 October 1962) is a German businessman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Bayer, succeeding Marijn Dekkers on 1 May 2016.

Werner Baumann was born on 6 October 1962 in Krefeld, Germany. Baumann was the first of his family to attend university, studying economics at RWTH Aachen University and the University of Cologne. Despite having interest in working for an auditing firm, he chose to work at Bayer, thinking he could finish his doctorate degree.