10-K/A
Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK)
As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 11, 2024
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D. C. 20549
FORM 10-K/A
(Amendment No. 1)
| ☒ | Annual Report Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2023 |
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OR
| ☐ | Transition Report Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 |
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For the transition period from
to
Commission File No. 1-6571

Merck & Co., Inc.
126 East Lincoln Avenue
Rahway New Jersey 07065
(908) 740-4000
| New Jersey | 22-1918501 |
|---|---|
| (State or other jurisdiction<br><br>of incorporation) | (I.R.S. Employer<br><br>Identification No.) |
Securities Registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
| Title of Each Class | Trading<br><br>Symbol(s) | Name of Each Exchange<br><br>on which Registered |
|---|---|---|
| Common Stock ($0.50 par value) | MRK | New York Stock Exchange |
| 0.500% Notes due 2024 | MRK 24 | New York Stock Exchange |
| 1.875% Notes due 2026 | MRK/26 | New York Stock Exchange |
| 2.500% Notes due 2034 | MRK/34 | New York Stock Exchange |
| 1.375% Notes due 2036 | MRK 36A | New York Stock Exchange |
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
| Large accelerated filer | ☒ | Accelerated filer | ☐ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-accelerated filer | ☐ | Smaller reporting company | ☐ |
| Emerging growth company | ☐ |
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒
If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒
Number of shares of Common Stock ($0.50 par value) outstanding as of January 31, 2024: 2,532,643,872.
Aggregate market value of Common Stock ($0.50 par value) held by non-affiliates on June 30, 2023 based on the closing price on June 30, 2023: $292,929,000,000.
Documents Incorporated by Reference:
| Document | Part of Form 10-K |
|---|---|
| Proxy Statement for the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held May 28, 2024, to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after the close of the fiscal year covered by this report | Part III |
EXPLANATORY NOTE
Merck & Co., Inc. (the “Company”) filed its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 (the “Original Form 10-K”) with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 26, 2024. The Company is filing this Amendment No. 1 (this “Amendment”) to the Original Form 10-K solely to correct the date of the Annual Meeting of Shareholders. In the Original Form 10-K, that date was inadvertently referenced as May 18, 2024. The date of the Annual Meeting of Shareholders is May 28, 2024.
Accordingly, this Amendment is being filed solely to:
| • | amend Part III, Items 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 of the Original Form <br>10-K<br> to correct the date of the Annual Meeting of Shareholders; |
|---|---|
| • | correct the date of the Annual Meeting of Shareholders on the cover of the filing; and |
| --- | --- |
| • | file new certifications of our principal executive officer and principal financial officer as exhibits to this Amendment under Item 15 of Part IV hereof pursuant to Rule <br>12b-15<br> under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. |
| --- | --- |
This Amendment does not reflect any events occurring after the filing of the Original Form 10-K or modify or update the disclosure contained therein in any way other than as required to reflect the correction discussed above. Accordingly, this Amendment should be read in conjunction with the Original Form 10-K.
Table of Contents
| Page | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Part III | |||
| Item 10. | Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance | 1 | |
| Item 11. | Executive Compensation | 1 | |
| Item 12. | Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters | 2 | |
| Item 13. | Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence | 2 | |
| Item 14. | Principal Accountant Fees and Services | 2 | |
| Part IV | |||
| Item 15. | Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules | 3 | |
| Signatures | 9 | ||
| Item 12. | Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters. | ||
| --- | --- |
Information with respect to security ownership of certain beneficial owners and management is incorporated by reference from the discussion under the heading “Stock Ownership Information” of the Company’s Proxy Statement for the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held May 28, 2024.
Equity Compensation Plan Information
The following table summarizes information about the options, warrants and rights and other equity compensation under the Company’s equity compensation plans as of the close of business on December 31, 2023. The table does not include information about tax qualified plans such as the Merck U.S. Savings Plan.
| Plan Category | Number of securities to be<br>issued upon exercise of<br>outstanding options,<br>warrants and rights<br>(a) | Weighted-average exercise<br>price of outstanding<br>options, warrants and<br>rights<br>(b) | Number of securities<br>remaining available for<br>future issuance under<br>equity compensation plans<br>(excluding securities<br>reflected in column (a))<br>(c) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equity compensation plans approved by security holders^(1)^ | 13,526,932 | ^(2)^ | $ | 77.54 | 81,123,362 | ||
| Equity compensation plans not approved by security holders | — | — | — | ||||
| Total | 13,526,932 | $ | 77.54 | 81,123,362 | |||
| (1) | Includes options to purchase shares of Company Common Stock and other rights under the following shareholder-approved plans: the Merck & Co., Inc. 2010 and 2019 Incentive Stock Plans, and the Merck & Co., Inc. 2010 Non-Employee Directors Stock Option Plan. | ||||||
| --- | --- | ||||||
| (2) | Excludes approximately 12,541,646 shares of restricted stock units and 1,966,333 performance share units (assuming maximum payouts) under the Merck Sharp & Dohme 2010 and 2019 Incentive Stock Plans. Also excludes 157,619 shares of phantom stock deferred under the MSD Employee Deferral Program and 503,549 shares of phantom stock deferred under the Merck & Co., Inc. Plan for Deferred Payment of Directors’ Compensation. | ||||||
| --- | --- | ||||||
| Item 13. | Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence. | ||||||
| --- | --- |
The required information on transactions with related persons is incorporated by reference from the discussion under the heading “Related Person Transactions” of the Company’s Proxy Statement for the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held May 28, 2024.
The required information on director independence is incorporated by reference from the discussion under the heading “Independence of Directors” of the Company’s Proxy Statement for the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held May 28, 2024.
| Item 14. | Principal Accountant Fees and Services. |
|---|
The information required for this item is incorporated by reference from the discussion under Proposal 4. Ratification of Appointment of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm for 2024 beginning with the caption “Pre-Approval Policy for Services of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm” through “Fees for Services Provided by the Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm” of the Company’s Proxy Statement for the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held May 28, 2024.
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| Exhibit 101: | ||
|---|---|---|
| 101.INS | — | XBRL Instance Document—The instance document does not appear in the interactive data file because its XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document. |
| 101.SCH | — | XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document. |
| 101.CAL | — | XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document. |
| 101.DEF | — | XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document. |
| 101.LAB | — | XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document. |
| 101.PRE | — | XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document. |
| 104 | — | Cover Page Interactive Data File (formatted as Inline XBRL and contained in Exhibit 101). |
| * | Management contract or compensatory plan or arrangement. | |
| --- | --- | |
| † | Certain portions of the exhibit have been omitted pursuant to a request for confidential treatment. The non-public information has been filed separately with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to rule 24b-2 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. | |
| --- | --- |
Long-term debt instruments under which the total amount of securities authorized does not exceed 10% of Merck & Co., Inc.’s total consolidated assets are not filed as exhibits to this report. Merck & Co., Inc. will furnish a copy of these agreements to the Securities and Exchange Commission on request.
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
Dated: April 11, 2024
| MERCK & CO., INC. | ||
|---|---|---|
| By: | ROBERT M. DAVIS | |
| (Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President) | ||
| By: | /s/ JENNIFER ZACHARY | |
| Jennifer Zachary | ||
| (Attorney-in-Fact) |
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EX-31.3
Exhibit 31.3
CERTIFICATION
I, Robert M. Davis, certify that:
I have reviewed this Amendment No. 1 to the annual report on Form 10-K of Merck & Co., Inc.; and
Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report.
Date: April 11, 2024
| By: | /s/ Robert M. Davis |
|---|---|
| ROBERT M. DAVIS | |
| Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President |
EX-31.4
Exhibit 31.4
CERTIFICATION
I, Caroline Litchfield, certify that:
I have reviewed this Amendment No. 1 to the annual report on Form 10-K of Merck & Co., Inc.; and
Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report.
Date: April 11, 2024
| By: | /s/ Caroline Litchfield |
|---|---|
| CAROLINE LITCHFIELD | |
| Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer |