Net profit (or alternatively, free cash flow or operating income) is a far better measure than gross profit for determining whether a company can sustain a particular financial hit.

Gross profit is only a precursor figure.

Still not the right number.

Net income is profit.

https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/BAYRY/bayer/net-in...

Their revenue minus expenses is usually low single digit billions, and they had a $12B loss in 2020.

They are earning less than $5B per year for many, many years, and already have a $12B loss to deal with from a couple years ago, there is no way to conclude that a multi billion dollar penalty is a “cost of doing business”.

This is also evident in their market cap graph, showing Bayer’s owners have lost a ton of money over the past 10+ years, especially considering the rocketship a risk less broad market index fund was during the same period.

https://companiesmarketcap.com/bayer/marketcap/

> there is no way to conclude that a multi billion dollar penalty is a “cost of doing business”

Unless you're a small business in Mafia times, in which case that's exactly what it was.