Lesson plan

Applera

Applera Corporation of Norwalk, Connecticut, at #874 on the 2007 Fortune 1000 list, was one of the largest international biotechnology companies based in the United States. It was the successor company to what was the Life Sciences Division of Perkin-Elmer Corporation. Applera was not publicly traded, but instead it consisted of two major groups which are publicly traded tracking stocks in the proteomics industrial sector. These two groups were the S&P 500 listed Applera Corp-Applied Biosystems Group of Foster City, California, and Applera Corp-Celera Genomics Group of Rockville, Maryland. In 2006, the company spun off the Celera Genomics group and changed its name from Applera to Applied Biosystems. As the former Perkin-Elmer, Applera had a history dating back to 1931. But more precisely, its history dates from 1999, when Perkin-Elmer effectively split in half, and sold off its more traditional half of the business to EG&G Inc. As part of the deal, it also sold the Perkin-Elmer name, because that most properly associated with that traditional line of products, and EG&G then became the new PerkinElmer. At that point the remaining Connecticut Life Sciences company issued its two tracking stocks, and also changed its own name to PE Corporation.…

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Article summary

Applera Corporation of Norwalk, Connecticut, at #874 on the 2007 Fortune 1000 list, was one of the largest international biotechnology companies based in the United States. It was the successor company to what was the Life Sciences Division of Perkin-Elmer Corporation. Applera was not publicly traded, but instead it consisted of two major groups which are publicly traded tracking stocks in the proteomics industrial sector. These two groups were the S&P 500 listed Applera Corp-Applied Biosystems Group of Foster City, California, and Applera Corp-Celera Genomics Group of Rockville, Maryland. In 2006, the company spun off the Celera Genomics group and changed its name from Applera to Applied Biosystems. As the former Perkin-Elmer, Applera had a history dating back to 1931. But more precisely, its history dates from 1999, when Perkin-Elmer effectively split in half, and sold off its more traditional half of the business to EG&G Inc. As part of the deal, it also sold the Perkin-Elmer name, because that most properly associated with that traditional line of products, and EG&G then became the new PerkinElmer. At that point the remaining Connecticut Life Sciences company issued its two tracking stocks, and also changed its own name to PE Corporation.…

Key claims

  1. date of formation: 2001 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
  2. date of foundation: 1990 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
  3. employees: 5,954 employees — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
  4. employees: 3,500 employees — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
  5. employees: 5,000 employees — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the date of formation is "2001". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. The record states that the date of foundation is "1990". What evidence would count against this claim?
  4. The record states that the employees is "5,954 employees". What evidence would count against this claim?
  5. The record states that the employees is "3,500 employees". What evidence would count against this claim?
  6. The record states that the employees is "5,000 employees". What evidence would count against this claim?
  7. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  8. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1373870398

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.