Monsanto

Open full sized image

Monsanto became a leading producer of agricultural chemicals and genetically modified crop seeds before being acquired by Bayer in 2018.

© Daniel Dreifuss—picture alliance/Getty Images

Monsanto was an American corporation and a leading producer of chemical, agricultural, and biochemical products. After being acquired by Bayer AG in 2018, it ceased to exist as a separate entity.

The Monsanto Chemical Works was founded in 1901 by John F. Queeny (1859–1933), a purchasing agent for a wholesale drug company, to manufacture the synthetic sweetener saccharin, then produced only in Germany. Queeny invested $1,500 of his own money and borrowed another $3,500 from a local Epsom salts manufacturer to launch his new company, which he named Monsanto after his wife’s maiden name.

The company reached full-scale saccharin production in 1902, added caffeine and vanillin to its product line over the next few years, and in 1905 began turning a profit. With the Coca-Cola Company (KO) as one of Monsanto’s chief customers, sales reached $1 million in 1915. Monsanto began producing aspirin in 1917.

Like many other American chemical companies, Monsanto expanded during World War I and flourished under the protection of the high U.S. tariffs of the 1920s. Queeny passed control of the company to his son, Edgar M. Queeny (1897–1968), in 1928.

In 1933, the company was incorporated as the Monsanto Chemical Company. Its production of styrene, a component of synthetic rubber, was vital to the U.S. war effort during World War II.

Under Edgar Queeny, Monsanto was transformed into an industrial giant before he retired in 1960. Reflecting its diverse product offerings, the company changed its name to Monsanto Company in 1964.

In 1985, Monsanto purchased pharmaceutical firm G.D. Searle & Co., maker of the NutraSweet artificial sweetener. Monsanto sold its sweeteners businesses, including NutraSweet, in 2000, as part of its exit from the food ingredients business.

In the 1990s, Monsanto’s acquisition of Calgene Inc., DEKALB Genetics, and other biotechnology firms made it a leader in the development and production of genetically modified crop seeds. It began commercial production of bovine somatotropin (BST), a growth hormone that boosts milk production in dairy cows, in 1994.

Monsanto merged with global pharmaceutical company Pharmacia & Upjohn in March 2000, but in August 2002 Monsanto’s nonpharmaceutical segments were spun off by Pharmacia Corporation, and Monsanto became a publicly traded company. Its primary businesses were in agriculture and biotechnology. To further those interests, it acquired various seed companies and software makers in the early 21st century.

During this time, Monsanto faced increasing public criticism, including opposition to its promotion of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and controversy over chemicals linked to health concerns. In the 2010s, lawsuits were filed claiming that its Roundup weed killer, which contained glyphosate, caused cancer.

Against this backdrop, in 2016 Bayer, a German chemical and pharmaceutical company, agreed to purchase Monsanto for more than $60 billion. In 2018, the acquisition was finalized, and shortly thereafter a jury found Monsanto liable in a Roundup lawsuit. Faced with the prospect of extensive legal liabilities, Bayer’s market value declined. Later that year, Monsanto was folded into Bayer’s crop science division.

Legal challenges related to Roundup continued into the 2020s. Bayer faced tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging that exposure to glyphosate caused cancer, particularly non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In 2020, Bayer agreed to pay more than $10 billion to settle thousands of claims. In 2025, a U.S. jury awarded $2.1 billion in damages in one case.

In response, Bayer argued that federal pesticide law preempts state lawsuits about the lack of a cancer warning on Roundup labels because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency doesn’t require cancer warnings. In 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7–2 in Bayer’s favor. The decision was expected to block thousands of pending cases, but left open other types of claims, such as product-design lawsuits.