Bayer COO: we stopped assigning sales targets. Our teams aimed higher

{
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  "signal_type": "news",
  "signal_subtype": "has_revenue",
  "detected_at": "2026-09-10T07:00:00+00:00",
  "company": {
    "name": "Bayer",
    "domain": "bayer.com"
  },
  "data": {
    "url": "https://fortune.com/2026/09/10/bayer-stopped-assigning-sales-targets-coo-sebastian-guth/",
    "title": "Bayer COO: we stopped assigning sales targets. Our teams aimed higher",
    "author": "Sebastian Guth",
    "excerpt": "At Bayer Pharmaceuticals, we made a decision that would sound reckless in many large companies: we stopped assigning sales targets to regions or countries. We did not eliminate accountability. We shifted it – from an annual number handed down from headquarters to employees deciding where resources will produce the greatest return for patients and the business. It was one of the hardest decisions I made. My 25-year career had taught me to equate sales targets and budgets with accountability. And there was an added complication: I still had a sales and earnings number to deliver. We are a publicly traded company, so along with our commitment to customers and patients, we guide the financial markets, and I am accountable to our shareholders. My first instinct was to take that commitment and divide ownership up among employees. But I chose not to. I came to believe that sales targets and budgets can undermine the accountability they were meant to create. Eliminating these numbers was only one part of a broader redesign of how we operate. Instead of adding layers to the bureaucracy, we stripped them away. Instead of locking in targets and budgets once a year, we began flowing people and resources to opportunities with the greatest potential. We deprioritized the rest. The goal was to put more authority – and accountability – in the hands of the people closest to the market. That...",
    "product": "Nubeqa",
    "summary": "Bayer's prostate cancer treatment Nubeqa achieved global sales of €2.4 billion in 2025.",
    "planning": false,
    "image_url": "https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Sebastian-Guthjpg.webp?resize=1200,600",
    "confidence": 0.9,
    "product_data": {
      "name": "Nubeqa",
      "full_text": "prostate cancer treatment Nubeqa",
      "fuzzy_match": false
    },
    "product_tags": [
      "medical"
    ],
    "published_at": "2026-09-10T07:00:00Z",
    "effective_date": "2025-12-31",
    "article_sentence": "The team ultimately achieved blockbuster status five months ahead of schedule, contributing strongly to Nubeqa’s global sales of €2.4 billion in 2025."
  }
}

curl https://signals.autobound.ai/v1/signals/dbab8bec-f27f-4958-5303-d49f92c7f9a2 \
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curl -X POST https://signals.autobound.ai/v1/companies/enrich \
  -H "X-API-KEY: $AUTOBOUND_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"domain":"bayer.com","limit":20}'