Johnson & Johnson

Robert Wood Johnson started Johnson & Johnson in 1886 with his two younger brothers, Edward Mead and James Wood. The factory opened with 14 employees: eight women and six men.⁠[1]

The three brothers brought different talents: one was a dynamic leader, another a brilliant inventor, and the third an ace at marketing.⁠[2]

Inspired by a lecture by Sir Joseph Lister, “the father of modern antiseptic surgery,” Robert Wood Johnson led the company to release the first mass-produced sterile surgical dressings and sterile sutures in 1887. He served as president from 1887 to 1910.⁠[3]

Johnson & Johnson was incorporated in the State of New Jersey in 1887.⁠[4]

In 1894 the company launched maternity kits and began selling Johnson’s Baby Powder. After Robert Wood Johnson died in 1910, James Wood Johnson became president.⁠[5]

Robert Wood Johnson II, son of the founder, was appointed president in 1932, later served as chairman, and retired at age 70 in 1963.⁠[6]

In 1943, just before the company became publicly traded, he wrote Our Credo, which opens: “We believe our first responsibility is to the patients, doctors and nurses.”⁠[7]

Johnson & Johnson became publicly traded in 1944.⁠[6]

In 1959 the company acquired the pharmaceutical firm McNeil Laboratories and the Swiss company Cilag Chemie; in 1961 it acquired Belgium’s Janssen Pharmaceutica.⁠[8]

James E. Burke was named CEO in 1976 and led the company through 1989, including the 1982 TYLENOL tampering incidents. Ralph S. Larsen became chairman and CEO in 1989, William C. Weldon in 2002 and Alex Gorsky in 2012.⁠[8]

Johnson & Johnson acquired Pfizer Consumer Healthcare for $16.6 billion in 2006 and Actelion for $30 billion in 2017.⁠[5]

The company sold the U.S. marketing rights for NUCYNTA ER and NUCYNTA in April 2015, and Janssen divested its opioid-related active pharmaceutical ingredient supplier businesses in 2016. In 2020 the board stated that the company’s current prescription opioid-related business activities were “immaterial.”⁠[9]

In November 2021 the company announced its intention to separate its Consumer Health business, to be named Kenvue. In January 2022 Joaquin Duato succeeded Alex Gorsky as CEO, later becoming the company’s eighth chairman and CEO. In 2022 the company acquired Abiomed, which Duato said positioned it as “the global leader in heart recovery.”⁠[10]

Duato became chairman of the board in January 2023.⁠[11]

The company completed the separation of its Consumer Health business, Kenvue, in August 2023; consolidated 2023 sales were $85.2 billion.⁠[12]

Over-the-counter and consumer brands including Johnson’s Baby Powder are now owned by Kenvue, which retained talc-related litigation liability outside the United States and Canada.⁠[13]

In 2024 the company made major MedTech acquisitions, including Shockwave and V-Wave. Consolidated 2024 sales were $88.8 billion, and GAAP net earnings from continuing operations, after tax, were $14,066 million.⁠[14]

In October 2025 the company announced its intention to separate its Orthopaedics business.⁠[15]

The company reports two segments, Innovative Medicine and MedTech, and had approximately 138,200 employees at December 28, 2025. It is a defendant in “numerous lawsuits arising out of the use of body powders containing talc.”⁠[4]

In fiscal 2025, ended December 28, 2025, consolidated sales were $94.2 billion and GAAP net earnings, after tax, were $26,804 million. The company invested more than $32 billion in research and development and inorganic innovation, including the acquisitions of Intra-Cellular Therapies and Halda Therapeutics.⁠[15]

As of 2025, the company had raised its dividend for more than 60 consecutive years.⁠[16]

The company proposed a $5.5 billion commitment to resolve the remaining roughly 76,000 ovarian talc claims, with a first payment of no more than $3 billion in 2027, conditioned on participation by plaintiff firms representing at least 95% of remaining claims. It had previously settled about 95% of filed mesothelioma lawsuits.⁠[17]

The company’s position is that its talc is “safe, does not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer.”⁠[13]

Third-quarter 2026 sales rose 5.9% to $25.4 billion; a one-time special charge for the proposed talc litigation resolution cut net earnings to $210 million, or $0.09 per diluted share. The company raised its 2026 sales outlook to $101.0 billion to $101.4 billion and completed the acquisition of Firefly Bio.⁠[18]