Teva Pharm Ind
9-707-441
REV: SEPTEMBER 19, 2007
TARUN KHANNA
KRISHNA PALEPU
CLAUDINE MADRAS
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd
In Israel we have a 1970s song based on a poem from 1953 by Amir Gilboa about Theodor Herzl [the most important early advocate for the establishment of Israel]. It has a line in it about Herzl: “Suddenly a man rises in the morning, feels he is a people, and starts walking.” That is exactly what Hurvitz did. Suddenly he woke up in the morning, feels he is a giant world class company, and starts walking. No one, aside from Herzl, has accomplished anything as remotely as impressive in this country as Hurvitz. It was impossible, a million to one odds at best, and he still did it. He woke up one morning and started walking.
— Ori Hershkovitz, equity analyst at Tel Aviv-based Leader & Company
The markets had not been kind to Teva Pharmaceutical during the first half of 2006. The stock had plunged nearly 30% from January 1 to June 30, erasing billions of dollars from the company’s market capitalization. Even good news, such as reports in July of Teva’s wildly successful introduction of generic Zocor—the largest blockbuster drug ever to go off-patent—had failed to boost the stock significantly. Since nearly every retirement fund and mutual fund in Israel invested in Teva, this drop had been felt throughout the population, in effect amounting to every Israeli family losing NIS 3000, or $675.1
Teva was more than the world’s leading producer of generic pharmaceuticals. It represented the gold standard of business in Israel. As the country’s largest public company and first true multinational, it had avoided the traditional conglomerate model of early Israeli enterprises, choosing instead a highly focused approach embraced by later generations of successful Israeli firms. With revenues growing from $91 million in 1985 to an estimated $8.5 billion in 2006, the company had bred a class of professional managers and scientists not before seen in the country. It had
REV: SEPTEMBER 19, 2007
TARUN KHANNA
KRISHNA PALEPU
CLAUDINE MADRAS
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd
In Israel we have a 1970s song based on a poem from 1953 by Amir Gilboa about Theodor Herzl [the most important early advocate for the establishment of Israel]. It has a line in it about Herzl: “Suddenly a man rises in the morning, feels he is a people, and starts walking.” That is exactly what Hurvitz did. Suddenly he woke up in the morning, feels he is a giant world class company, and starts walking. No one, aside from Herzl, has accomplished anything as remotely as impressive in this country as Hurvitz. It was impossible, a million to one odds at best, and he still did it. He woke up one morning and started walking.
— Ori Hershkovitz, equity analyst at Tel Aviv-based Leader & Company
The markets had not been kind to Teva Pharmaceutical during the first half of 2006. The stock had plunged nearly 30% from January 1 to June 30, erasing billions of dollars from the company’s market capitalization. Even good news, such as reports in July of Teva’s wildly successful introduction of generic Zocor—the largest blockbuster drug ever to go off-patent—had failed to boost the stock significantly. Since nearly every retirement fund and mutual fund in Israel invested in Teva, this drop had been felt throughout the population, in effect amounting to every Israeli family losing NIS 3000, or $675.1
Teva was more than the world’s leading producer of generic pharmaceuticals. It represented the gold standard of business in Israel. As the country’s largest public company and first true multinational, it had avoided the traditional conglomerate model of early Israeli enterprises, choosing instead a highly focused approach embraced by later generations of successful Israeli firms. With revenues growing from $91 million in 1985 to an estimated $8.5 billion in 2006, the company had bred a class of professional managers and scientists not before seen in the country. It had