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By Jacob Goldstein

If you’re running a little biotech shop with tons of promise but not much capital, here’s a tip: Jim Cornelius has a billion dollars burning a hole in his pocket.

Cornelius is the CEO of Bristol-Myers Squibb; on the company’s earnings call today he said that even after Bristol’s recent $2.1 billion Medarex deal, the company’s net cash position is $1.3 billion. And Bristol will “continue to aggressively pursue acquisitions, licensing deals and other partnerships,” he said.

Bristol may get even more cash — another $1.7 billion or so — when Mead Johnson, a former Bristol subsidiary that had an IPO earlier this year, closes on some debt refinancing, Cornelius said.

Meanwhile Bristol’s trying to figure out what to do with the 83% ownership stake it still holds in Mead Johnson, which sells Enfamil baby formula. The stock has done great since the IPO — it’s up some 77%, Dow Jones Newswires notes.

Selling its stake in Mead Johnson would expose Bristol to a “huge” tax liability, Cornelius said. So Bristol might hang on to the company, or it might look for a tax-free way to unload its stake, such spinning off its Mead Johnson shares to existing Bristol shareholders, or offering to trade shares of Mead Johnson for investors’ shares of Bristol-Myers.

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