I sold my Merck stock today…Held it for a long, long time...

Dummy.

 

Let's separate emotion from reality.

We don't care about Merck. Some of us hate Merck. A few wish Merck will implode tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the stocks are not doing too bad and is paying dividends.

Merck can have an empty internal pipeline. She can license from external sources. We did it with Prilosec (technically that was a JV), Pepcid from Yamanouchi and on and on. Slap a Merck logo on and you can go sell it if you are any good. Many companies have made a fortune from licensing products from elsewhere. Heck, some have no R&D and all products are licensed or as ancient as the pyramid and they still make money.

 

On the other hand, look at how much other stocks have gone up. When I left Merck I had not paid any attention to the wise Diversify advice. I sold all of it and reinvested in tech companies. $150K in 2001 is now $710K. I sold at about the same price it is now. Reconsider your investment strategy.

 

Had a tremendous morning cashing in 5000 options with a strike price of 33 - keep the downsizing initiatives coming!