Should Merck Copy Pfizer and Join the "Spinoff Club"?

Pharmaceutical heavyweight Pfizer kicked off the second half of 2013 by slimming down and spinning off its animal-health business, Zoetis . The company also announced last quarter that it will be dividing its existing businesses into new divisions, and many analysts believe this is a precursor to future spinoffs.

And Pfizer isn't alone: Abbott recently spun-off its pharmaceutical division into the stand-alone company AbbVie.

But despite a flurry of changes across the pharmaceutical industry, Merck has been reluctant to change its business model. In the following video, analysts David Williamson and Max Macaluso discuss whether Merck should join its peers and focus just on pharmaceuticals.

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The article Should Merck Copy Pfizer and Join the "Spinoff Club"? originally appeared on Fool.com.

David Williamson owns shares of Pfizer. Max Macaluso, Ph.D. has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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