More, From The "Bust-Up Chronicles" -- c/o WSJ's Peter Loftus, This Time. . . .

Read the last line I've quoted, below, from this Wall Street Journal story (do go read it all), filed this afternoon by Peter Loftus. Is there any doubt that Merck is busting Schering-Plough apart, piece-by-piece? First, the Animal Health businesses, then the Remicade/Simponi potential return to J&J, and now -- Consumer Health Care is potentially "on the block", for "partnering", in the view of Merck CEO Dick Clark? I mean seriously, take a look:

. . . .Merck & Co.'s top executive said Tuesday the drug maker might consider lining up an outside partner to invest in the consumer-health operations Merck will inherit with its planned purchase of Schering-Plough. . . .

"Certainly there will have to be an investment in the consumer business," Merck Chief Executive Richard Clark told analysts on a conference call after reporting second-quarter earnings, adding that the drug maker is now considering whether "we do it alone or can we do it with a partner?" He added in an interview it was too early to say in which direction Merck was leaning.

Schering-Plough's consumer business -- which sells Claritin allergy medicine, Dr. Scholl's foot-care products and Coppertone sunscreen -- generated about $1.3 billion in sales last year, or roughly 3% of combined sales for the two companies. . . .

[Merck is not a consumer-health company, so that led to] some speculation that Merck may consider forming a consumer-products joint venture with a company that has more experience in consumer products. . . .

Were this a merger of two equals, preserving the businesses of each, that last sentence, above, would have contained some glowing pull-quotes, from Merck CEO Dick Clark, about the strength and stellar abilities of Schering-Plough's existing Consumer Health team -- and commitments to keep it intact, post-merger.

This is essentially the opposite -- Merck CEO Clark is all but issuing an invitation for bidders to offer to buy all, or bits and pieces, of that franchise. And so the pre-positioning of the contemplated bust-up continues, tonight. . . .