What are some current events in your industry?

The pharmaceutical giant Abbott Laboratories has decided to beak itself into two companies. The first will be a pharmaceutical company and the second will focus more on diversified products. The products will keep the Abbott name and the company will be run by Miles D. White, 58 who has been leading the company since 1988. Richard Gonzalez 57, will run Abbott's spin off pharmaceutical company which has yet to be named. Gonzalez was previously the companies president and chief operating officer. The company expects to complete the split by the end of 2012. The new pharmaceutical company is expected to have nearly 18 billion in annual revenue mostly from their flagship drug Humira. There has been concern about how well the new company will do after Humira patent expires. Gonzalez had reassured people that Humira "has plenty of runway left" and that the companies is working on new drugs to supplement Humira. The split in Abbott will create more stock shares and allow portfolio managers to diversify their portfolios on their own because the two companies will be more focused. Abbott is the latest t U.S company that has decided to split. Others include Conoco Phillips, Tyco International Ltd, Kraft Foods inc, McGraw Hill companies and ITT corp. The split of Abbott is causing other diversified companies to split. Abbott's new pharmaceutical company is expected to be an asset of interest for many other companies including Merck, Roche, AstraZeneca and Bayer. The split of Abbott has lifted its shares two percent so far and the numbers are only expected to increase. The split of Abbott has a lot to do with what was recently discussed in class about the stock market and how companies stock prices rise and fall.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/19/us-abbott-idUSTRE79I46K20111019