NEW YORK—Johnson & Johnson on Dec. 17 scrambled to contain fallout from a Reuters report that the healthcare conglomerate knew for decades that cancer-causing asbestos lurked in its Baby Powder, taking out full-page newspaper ads defending its product and practices, and readying its chief executive for his first television interview since investors erased tens of billions of dollars from the company’s market value.
J&J shares fell nearly 3 percent Dec. 17, closing at $129.14 in New York Stock Exchange trading. That drop was on top of the 10 percent plunge that wiped out about $40 billion of the company’s market capitalization following the Reuters report. J&J also announced the same day that it would be repurchasing up to $5 billion of its common stock.
