Bristol-Myers CEO Boots Baby Formula

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. CEO James Cornelius is making another whopper move to focus the company on its drug business, announcing the spinoff of a division that makes a popular baby formula.

The New York-based drugmaker is spinning off the remainder of its Mead Johnson Nutrition Co., maker of the Enfamil infant formula. It sold 17 percent of the company in an initial public offering earlier this year.

While infant formula is a profitable business, Cornelius is more interested in buying or partnering with small biotech companies to develop new drugs. There's an urgency because the company's big blood-thinner drug Plavix faces generic competition in 2012.

“This marks the latest step in our company’s transformation into a bio-pharma leader,” Cornelius says in a statement.

When Cornelius was named interim CEO three years ago, there was some analyst speculation that he would simply dress up the company for sale. The former Guidant Corp. executive replaced ousted CEO Peter Dolan and wasn't expected to stay in the job long term. Since then, he's been named permanent chief executive and was elected chairman of the board.

To date, Cornelius' actions show a guy who wants to build the company rather than sell it.