suppose the following information was taken from the 2022 finacial statements

Suppose the following information was taken from the 2022 financial statements of pharmaceutical giant Merck and Co. (All dollar amounts are in millions.) Retained earnings, January 1, 2022 Cost of goods sold Selling and administrative expenses Dividends Sales revenue Research and development expense Income tax expense $43.698.8 9,018.9 8,543.2 3,597.7 38,576.0 5,845.0 2,267.6 (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? B 1 T. T' I. 1 1 E * m 99 E a T T O Word(s)