BAYER AG

German chemical and pharmaceutical company founded in 1863 by a chemical salesman, Friedrich Bayer (1825-80), and now operating plants in Germany and more than 30 other countries. Company headquarters, originally in Barmen (now Wuppertal), have been in Leverkusen, north of Cologne, since 1912. The company was originally called Friedr. Bayer et comp. and manufactured dyestuffs; in 1881 it was incorporated as Farbenfabriken vormals Friedr. Bayer & Co. In 1912 Carl Duisberg (1861-1935), a chemist, became Bayer's general director and soon began spearheading the movement that would result in 1925 in the consolidation of Germany's chemical industries known as IG Farben (q.v.); Duisberg was IG Farben's first chairman, and Bayer remained within the cartel until it was dissolved by the Allies in 1945. In 1951 an independent Bayer was reestablished as Farbenfabriken Bayer Aktiengesellschaft; the current name was adopted in 1972. In 1981 Bayer acquired a controlling interest in the Agfa-Gevaert Group, a German and Belgian corporate group producing photographic equipment and film, magnetic tape, and photocopying and duplicating machines. The company's trademark, the Bayer cross, is internationally famous. Scores of pharmaceuticals, dyes, acetates, synthetic rubbers, plastics, fibres, insecticides, and other chemicals were first developed by Bayer. Notably, it was the first developer and marketer of aspirin (1899); of the first sulfa drug, Prontosil (1935); and of polyurethane (1937), the base material for synthetic foams, paints, adhesives, fibres, and other goods.