Danaher Corporationis an American global conglomerate founded in 1984 by brothersStevenandMitchell Rales.Headquartered inWashington, D.C.,the company designs, manufactures, and markets medical, industrial, and commercial products and services.[1][2][3]Danaher was among the first companies in North America to adoptKaizenprinciples, a Japaneselean manufacturingphilosophy of continuous improvement and efficiency.[4][5]The company held $78.5 billion in assets as of 2024.

Danaher Corporation
Company typePublic
IndustryConglomerate
Founded
  • 1969;55 years ago(1969)(as DMG)
  • 1984;40 years ago(1984)(as Danaher)
Founders
HeadquartersWashington, D.C.,U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Steven Rales (chairman of the board)
Mitchell Rales (chairman of the executive committee)
Rainer Blair (presidentandCEO)
RevenueDecreaseUS$23.9 billion(2023)
DecreaseUS$5.20 billion(2023)
DecreaseUS$4.76 billion(2023)
Total assetsIncreaseUS$84.5 billion(2023)
Total equityIncreaseUS$53.5 billion(2023)
Number of employees
c. 63,000(2023)
DivisionsList of divisions
Websitedanaher
Footnotes / references
[1]
Former logo

History

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Early years

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The company's origins go back to aMassachusettsreal estate investment trustorganized in 1969 as DMG, Inc. In 1978, DMG, Inc. was reorganized as a Florida corporation and changed its name to Diversified Mortgage Investors, Inc. DMG had been invested in retirement home developments when it was taken over by the Rales, and in 1984, the company adopted the name Danaher and reincorporated under theDelaware General Corporation Law.[2][1]It was named after Danaher Creek inWestern Montana,where the brothers conceptualized it while fishing.[6][2][7]

In June 1986, Danaher purchasedChicago Pneumatic(CP), which had merged in July 1984 with a sister company, the Jacobs Manufacturing Co. (Jacobs), and which had purchasedMatco Tools Corp.(MTC) in April 1981.

In June 1987, Danaher sold CP while retaining Jacobs, including its Matco Tools Division. Jacobs' name was changed to Matco Tools Corp. In November 1991, the other divisions within Jacobs were established as separate operating companies. In January 1993, Danaher formed NMTC, Inc., which acquired a substantial portion of the assets of MTC, including the existing distributorship agreements of MTC.

Within two years of Danaher's founding in 1984, Danaher acquired 12 companies as part of a strategy to enter themanufacturingbusiness. Therefore, in 1986, Danaher addedQualitrolto itsinstrumentationunit.[8]The unit also includedGilbarco Veeder-Root's underground fuel storage sensors, Dynapar's motion sensors[9]and Qualitrol'spressureandtemperaturemeasurement instruments, used on the electrical transformer industry.[10]

1990–2000

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In 1990, Danaher acquired Easco Hand Tools Inc.[11]Danaher was selected as exclusive supplier of handtools for Sears. In 1994, Danaher acquired the tool companyArmstrong Tools,the makers of tool brands Armstrong, Allen, and others. In 1995 Danaher acquired German components manufacturerHengstler,a leading manufacturer of counters, printers, relays, and high-precision rotational sensors. Hengstler was Danaher's first acquisition on the European mainland, and the first operating company headquartered outside the United States.[12]Since 1999, Danaher has owned 100% ofHach,broadening the portfolio of chemical, mainly water and wastewater, analytics also with the German company Lange.

2001–2010

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Danaher acquired Trojan Technologies, anenvironmental engineeringfirm, in 2004.[13]

UK-based West Instruments provides control and measurement instrumentation and services for the global industrial and process markets. German instrumentation manufacturer PMA was added to the Industrial Controls Group in 2005 and enhances the range of control and measurement instrumentation.

In July 2005, Danaher announced a definitive agreement to acquireLeica Microsystems.[14]Leica manufactures a broad range of products for numerous applications requiring microscopic imaging, measurement and analysis. It also offers management systems in the areas of Life Science including biotechnology and medicine, as well as the science of raw materials and industrial quality assurance.

In early 2007 Danaher acquired Australian Pathology Instrument and Engineering company Vision Systems Limited.[15]Also in 2007, Danaher made its largest acquisition to date, the purchase ofTektronix, Inc.for US$2.85 billion.[16][17]

ChemTreatwas acquired byDanaherin 2007 as well.[18]

In 2009 Danaher purchased the Analytical Technologies business unit of Canadian Life Sciences company MDS, Inc. for US$650 million.[19]In a separate, but related transaction, Danaher agreed withLife Technologies Corporation(Nasdaq: LIFE) to acquire the remaining 50% ownership position in AB SCIEX for US$450 million, leaving Danaher as outright owner of AB SCIEX and Molecular Devices. The aggregate purchase price for the combined transactions is $1.1 billion.[20]

2011–2020

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In 2011, Danaher acquiredBeckman Coulter[21]and sold Accu-sort toDatalogic.

In October 2012, Danaher andCooper Industriesagreed to sell their joint venture,Apex Tool Group,toBain Capitalfor a fee of around $1.6 billion.[22]In December 2012 Danaher Corporation acquired Navman Wireless, a provider of on-demand fleet and asset management technology.[23]

In September 2014, Danaher announced its intention to buyNobel Biocarefor $2.2 billion.[24]In October 2014, Danaher Corp announced it would be combining its communications unit withNetScout Systems.[25]The action was completed in July 2015[26]

In May 2015, Danaher announced the acquisition ofPall Corporationfor $13.8 billion,[27]which was completed in August 2015.[28]

In June 2016, Danaher spun off several subsidiaries, including Matco and AMMCO-COATS, to createFortive.[29]In September of the same year, the company announced it would acquireCepheidfor $4 billion (including debt).[30]

In October 2016, Danaher Corporation acquired Phenomenex for $700 million to expand its life sciences space.[31]

In October 2017, Danaher announced the acquisition of scientific informatics company ID Business Solutions Ltd. (IDBS).[32]It was announced that IDBS would become part of Danaher's Life Sciences platform.[33]

In 2017, Danaher recorded $18.3 billion in revenue.[34]

In March 2018, the business announced it would acquireIntegrated DNA Technologiesfor an undisclosed price.[35]

In July 2018, Danaher announced its intention to spin off its $2.8 billion Dental segment into an independent publicly traded company. They named Amir Aghdaei, who at the time was President of Danaher's Dental Platform, to be President and CEO of the new company upon completion of the transaction.[36]Thecorporate spin-offwas completed in December 2019, with the new company called Envista Holdings Corporation.[37]

In October 2019, Danaher announced it has signed an agreement to sell its biomolecular characterization, chromatography hardware and resins, microcarriers and particle validation standards businesses to Sartorius AG for approximately $750 million. The combined revenue of the businesses was approximately $140 million in 2018.[38]

In 2019, Danaher was ranked byForbesas one of the best employers for diversity.[39]

On Monday, March 2, 2020,Dr. Stephen Hahn,the FDA's commissioner, said that the agency had taken actions to allow private labs and companies to begin making their own coronavirus tests in order to greatly expand the U.S. capacity to test for the virus. Hahn went on to note, "There will be—the estimates we're getting from industry right now, by the end of this week, close to a million tests will be able to be performed."[40]The following morning, a spokeswoman for theU.S. Department of Health and Human Servicesnoted that Dr. Hahn was referring to tests being produced by an outside manufacturer,Integrated DNA Technologies.IDT is a division of Danaher which was acquired in early 2019.[41]

In March 2020, Danaher acquired the biopharma business of theGeneral ElectricLife Sciences division for $21.4 billion and was namedCytiva.Danaher had to sell off part of its life sciences businesses toSartoriusto satisfy theFederal Trade Commissionregulatory requirement for the acquisition.[42]Cytiva is a global provider of technologies and services related to the development, manufacture, and delivery of vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics to customers in organizations including academia, biotechnology, and drug manufacturing.[43][44][45]The Cytiva name stems from 'cyto' meaning 'cell' in Greek, and 'iva' a Latin suffix meaning 'doing' and 'capable of'.[46]

In May 2020, it was announced that Tom Joyce would retire as CEO of the company. He was replaced by Executive Vice President Rainier Blair on September 1, 2020.[47]

2021–present

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In September 2022, it was announced that Pall Life Sciences will be merging with Cytiva to create a new Biotechnology Group within Danaher. The merger was completed in May 2023.[48][49][50]As of May 2023, Cytiva employed more than 16,000 associates in over 40 countries.[51]

Also in September 2022, Danaher announced its intention to spin off its Environmental & Applied Solutions segment in Q4 2023.[52]On February 8, 2023, Danaher announced that the new company is namedVeralto Corporationand will be headed by Danaher Executive Vice PresidentJennifer Honeycuttas Veralto's President and CEO.[53]On September 30, Danaher announced the separation completion of Veralto and that Veralto will begin trading on theNew York Stock Exchangeon October 2 under the symbol "VLTO."[54]

On 28 August 2023, Danaher announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquireAbcamfor approximately $5.7 billion at $24 per share in cash.[55][56]

In April 2024, Precision Nanosystems was merged into Cytiva.[57]In June, The USFood and Drug Administration(FDA) granted marketing approval to Danaher's Cepheid unit for a rapid test forhepatitis C.Using abloodsample from a fingertip, the rapid test detects the virus'sRNAand delivers results in less than roughly an hour, as opposed to requiring a sample to be sent to a lab.[58]

Controversies

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Controversy has arisen regarding the pricing of test cartridges manufactured by Danaher's subsidiary,Cepheid.These cartridges are essential for detecting diseases such as COVID-19, HIV, and tuberculosis. Organizations such asTreatment Action GroupandDoctors Without Bordershave been asking Cepheid to lower the price of these tests since 2019.

On September 12, 2023, author and vloggerJohn Greenreleased a video[59]highlighting these ethical concerns and calling on his community to reach out to Danaher.[60][61]One week later, Cepheid and Danaher announced a 20% price reduction for their Xpert MTB/RIF TB test cartridge, from $9.98 to $7.97 in high TB-burden countries. However, their Xpert MTB/XDR test used to diagnose for drug-resistant TB, which is the deadliest form, remained unchanged at $14.90.[62][63]

Divisions

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Life sciences

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Diagnostics

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Spinoff companies

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Veralto

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See also

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References

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  1. ^abc"Danaher Corporation 2023 Form 10-K Annual Report".U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.February 21, 2024.
  2. ^abcDrummond, Bob (2 April 2004).Takeover Wizards,New Zealand Herald
  3. ^Valdez, Angela (6 June 2008).A Very Private Collection,Washington City Paper
  4. ^"Fortive and Danaher, Steven and Mitchell Rales".Fortive.
  5. ^Fox, Justin (19 May 2015).What Makes Danaher Corp. Such a Star?,Bloomberg(discussing kaizen and privacy of company)
  6. ^"The Danaher Story".Danaher.
  7. ^Heath, Thomas (7 July 2008).The Quiet Dynamism of the Brothers Rales,The Washington Post
  8. ^"About the Company".Qualitrol. 2012.RetrievedJuly 6,2012.
  9. ^"Dynapar Motion Control Sensor Rotary Encoders & Resolvers".Dynapar. 2016. Archived fromthe originalon August 9, 2016.
  10. ^Dubovoj, Sina; Ingram, Frederick (2006)."Danaher Corporation".Resource Library CBS Interactive.RetrievedJune 12,2012.
  11. ^"Danaher Acquires Easco Hand Tools".The New York Times.February 21, 1990.RetrievedApril 26,2019.
  12. ^"Hengstler History".Hengstler.
  13. ^"Our History".London, ON: Trojan Technologies.RetrievedOctober 15,2022.
  14. ^"Danaher Corp, Form 10-Q, Quarterly Report, Filing Date Jul 21, 2005"(PDF).secdatabase.RetrievedMarch 30,2013.
  15. ^"Danaher Corp, Form 10-Q, Quarterly Report, Filing Date Oct 19, 2006".secdatabase.RetrievedMarch 30,2013.
  16. ^"Danaher Corp, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Nov 21, 2007".secdatabase.RetrievedMarch 30,2013.
  17. ^"Danaher to Buy Tektronix for $2.85 Billion".The New York Times.October 16, 2007.ISSN0362-4331.RetrievedApril 28,2015.
  18. ^Blackwell, John Reid (July 8, 2007)."Buyout enriches workers".Richmond Times-Dispatch.RetrievedJanuary 6,2021.
  19. ^"Danaher Corp, Form 10-K, Annual Report, Filing Date Feb 24, 2010"(PDF).secdatabase.RetrievedMarch 29,2013.
  20. ^"MDS shares soar on restructuring - the Globe and Mail".theglobeandmail.Archived fromthe originalon September 2, 2009.RetrievedJanuary 14,2022.
  21. ^"Danaher Corp, Form 8-K/A, Filing Date Aug 10, 2011".secdatabase.RetrievedMarch 29,2013.
  22. ^"Deals of the day -- mergers and acquisitions".Reuters.October 10, 2012.Archivedfrom the original on September 22, 2013.RetrievedJune 30,2017.
  23. ^"Danaher Corp Acquires Navman Wireless".Reuters.January 29, 2013.
  24. ^"Danaher to buy Nobel Biocare for $2.2 billion".Reuters. September 15, 2014.
  25. ^Danaher to combine communications unit with NetScoutArchived2015-11-27 at theWayback Machine.Reuters,14 October 2014
  26. ^"NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTCT) has completed the acquisition of Danaher Corporation's (NYSE: DHR) Communications Business. - NetScout".Archived fromthe originalon June 6, 2017.RetrievedMarch 24,2016.
  27. ^"Danaher to Acquire Pall for $13.6 Billion and Split Into Two".The New York Times.May 15, 2015.RetrievedApril 26,2019.
  28. ^"Danaher Completes Acquisition Of Pall Corporation".Pall.RetrievedApril 26,2019.
  29. ^Zacks Equity Research (July 5, 2016)."Danaher Completes Fortive Spin-Off, Trading to Begin Today".Yahoo Finance.RetrievedJuly 5,2016.
  30. ^"Danaher to Acquire Cepheid for $4B".September 6, 2016.
  31. ^"Danaher Completes Acquisition Of Phenomenex".biopharma-reporter. October 11, 2016.RetrievedNovember 6,2016.
  32. ^"Danaher picks up U.K. data analytics player to boost drug development offerings".FierceBioTech.October 30, 2017.RetrievedDecember 1,2017.
  33. ^"Danaher to Buy U.K. Drug R&D Software Firm ID Business Solutions".Bloomberg.October 30, 2017.RetrievedDecember 1,2017.
  34. ^Maake, Katishi (January 7, 2019)."Glenstone Foundation gobbles up more property near its museum".Washington Business Journal.RetrievedJanuary 9,2019.
  35. ^"Danaher to Acquire Integrated DNA Technologies".March 9, 2018.
  36. ^"Danaher Announces Plan To Spin Off Dental Business Into An Independent, Publicly Traded Company - Jul 19, 2018".Danaher Corporation Investors.
  37. ^"Danaher Announces Final Results Of Envista Exchange Offer"(Press release).PR Newswire.December 18, 2019.
  38. ^Hargreaves, Ben (October 22, 2019)."Sartorius in $750m swoop for Danaher Life Science businesses".Biopharma Reporter.RetrievedOctober 29,2019.
  39. ^"Danaher on the Forbes Best Employers for Diversity List".Forbes.
  40. ^Thomas, Katie; Sheikh, Knvul (March 3, 2020)."Estimates Fall Short of F.D.A.'s Pledge for 1 Million Coronavirus Tests".The New York Times.
  41. ^"IDT Leadership".
  42. ^Macdonald, Gareth John (May 12, 2020)."Sartorius' Acquisition of Danaher Techs Fits Demand for Process Intensification".GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.RetrievedJuly 9,2023.
  43. ^"Cytiva to provide bioprocessing training at Indian incubation centre".cleanroomtechnology.RetrievedSeptember 4,2023.
  44. ^"BBC collaborates with Cytiva to aid in bioprocessing training programme".biospectrumindia.RetrievedSeptember 4,2023.
  45. ^"Cytiva".TECHNIA (US).RetrievedSeptember 4,2023.
  46. ^"GE Healthcare Life Sciences rebrands to 'Cytiva'".ATMP Sweden.RetrievedSeptember 4,2023.
  47. ^"Danaher names next CEO".bizjournals.RetrievedOctober 28,2020.
  48. ^Stanton, Dan (September 22, 2022)."Danaher merging Cytiva and Pall - BioProcess Insider".BioProcess International.
  49. ^Stanton, Dan (May 2, 2023)."Danaher completes Cytiva Pall merger - BioProcess Insider".BioProcess International.RetrievedJuly 9,2023.
  50. ^"Cytiva and Pall Life Sciences complete integration to create a global innovation and solutions leader in biotechnology".Cytiva.May 2, 2023.RetrievedJuly 9,2023.
  51. ^Sterling, John (May 2, 2023)."Merger of Cytiva and Pall's Life Sciences Business Now Complete".GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.RetrievedSeptember 4,2023.
  52. ^"Danaher Announces Intention to Separate Environmental & Applied Solutions Segment to Create an Independent, Publicly Traded Company - Sep 14, 2022".danaher.
  53. ^"Danaher announces new environmental and applied solutions company to be named Veralto".Danaher.February 8, 2023.
  54. ^Corporation, Danaher (September 30, 2023)."Danaher Corporation Completes Separation of Veralto Corporation".prnewswire.Archivedfrom the original on October 1, 2023.RetrievedOctober 1,2023.
  55. ^Mishra, Manas (August 28, 2023)."Danaher to buy Abcam in deal valued at $5.7 billion".Nasdaq.RetrievedAugust 28,2023.
  56. ^"Danaher to Acquire Abcam - Aug 28, 2023".danaher.August 28, 2023.RetrievedAugust 28,2023.
  57. ^"Precision Nanosystems is now part of Cytiva".Precision Nanosystems.April 29, 2024.RetrievedJuly 3,2024.
  58. ^"FDA Approves Danaher Unit's Rapid Test for Hepatitis C".
  59. ^Green, John (September 12, 2023)."Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Danaher and Cepheid"(video).youtube.Vlogbrothers.
  60. ^Baker, Kamrin (September 12, 2023)."John Green & Grassroots Activists Pressure Danaher To Drop Price of Tuberculosis Test".Good Good Good.
  61. ^Lawrence, Lizzy; Silverman, Ed (September 14, 2023)."Novelist John Green launches attack on Cepheid over the price of its TB test".Stat.RetrievedSeptember 14,2023.
  62. ^(19 September 2023).MSF: TB test price reduction by Cepheid and Danaher is a step in the right direction,Doctors Without Borders
  63. ^Mahdavi, Darius (September 19, 2023)."'Pure price-gouging': Advocates celebrate price drop of critical TB test but say Big Pharma needs to do more ".CBC.
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