Question: Suppose the following information was taken from the 2017 financial statements of pharmaceutical giant Merck and Co. (All dollar amounts are in millions.)
Instructions: (a) After analyzing the data, prepare an income statement and a retained earnings statement for the year ending December 31, 2017.
(b) Suppose that Merck decided to reduce its research and development expense by 50%. What would be the short-term implications? What would be the long-term implications? How do you think the stock market would react?