by Lauren Thomas and Patrick Thomas, Wall Street Journal
Agriculture company Corteva (CTVA) is mulling a breakup that would separate its seed and pesticide businesses into two separate companies, according to people familiar with the matter.
The company has a market value of around $50 billion and could unveil its plans soon, assuming the talks don’t hit any last-minute snags, the people said.
Corporate unwindings have taken center stage in 2025, with companies including Kraft Heinz and Warner Bros. Discovery bowing to investor pressure to do so.
Corteva itself was the result of a spinout from chemicals conglomerate DowDuPont in 2019. Its share price has climbed nearly 150% since then, including more than 25% so far this year.
The company supplies farmers growing everything from soybeans in Iowa to corn in Brazil with weed and pest-killing chemicals and the biotech seeds designed to withstand them. Corteva and its top agriculture rival, Bayer, sell roughly 70% of all corn and soybean seeds planted in the U.S., according to federal data.
Corteva’s signature seed brand Pioneer is one of the most recognizable names to American farmers. Corteva is seen by investors as one of the best-performing companies in U.S. agriculture, partly because of the success of its Enlist-branded soybeans that make up most of the U.S. market.
Separating Corteva’s crop-seed unit from its pesticide business could help shield its seeds from any potential future liabilities associated with its pest and weed-killing chemicals. It is a problem that has long dogged Bayer. Claims that Bayer’s Roundup product–the most popular weedkiller in the world–causes cancer have cost the company billions of dollars in legal settlements and pressured its stock price. Bayer maintains that its product is safe.
Corteva hasn’t had the same legal pressures as Bayer and isn’t involved in that litigation.
Corteva was formed thanks to the 2017 merger of Dow Chemical and DuPont. The combination brought together DuPont’s strong seeds business with Dow’s chemicals portfolio, creating a new agriculture entity that was later spun out.
Corteva’s stock price has shot up to more than $70 from $29 a share six years ago. The company reported about $17 billion in sales last year. Its seed business generated almost $9.6 billion in revenue, while the pesticide business had about $7.4 billion in sales last year.
Corteva shares ended trading Friday up about 2% after jumping on The Wall Street Journal report. The stock continued to climb in after-hours trading.
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