DuPont trades oil for science

DuPont Co.'s new CEO, Charles Holliday has lost no time in refocusing the chemicals and specialties operations of the oil and chemicals giant towards the life sciences. The company's latest move was its announcement last week that it will divest its oil company, Conoco Inc., and invest much of the proceeds in life sciences.

In making the shift, the company joins others in the sector - Dow Chemical (Midland, Mich.), Hoechst (Frankfurt, Germany), Monsanto Co. (St. Louis, Mo.) and Rhone-Poulenc (Paris, France) - that are focusing on the life sciences and, in some cases, are selling or spinning off their chemicals wholly or partially...