Thermo Fisher Scientific

On May 6, 1902, Chester G. Fisher, a 20-year-old engineering graduate, founded the Scientific Materials Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to supply scientific tools to the city’s industries. The company published its first catalog in 1904 and was renamed the Fisher Scientific Company in 1925.⁠[1]

In 1956, the year he joined the faculty of MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, George N. Hatsopoulos co-founded the Thermo Electron Corporation with Peter Nomikos. He led the company as chief executive and chairman until he retired in 1999, by which time Thermo Electron had more than 24,000 employees in 23 countries.⁠[2]

Thermo Electron was incorporated in 1956, completed its initial public offering in 1967 and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1980.⁠[3]

In January 2000, Thermo Electron announced a major reorganization that took private all of its public subsidiaries, sold non-core businesses and spun off its paper recycling and medical products businesses; it was substantially completed in February 2002. In July 2004, the company sold Spectra-Physics, its optical technologies segment.⁠[3]

On May 8, 2006, Thermo Electron and Fisher Scientific International announced their combination, under which Fisher shareholders would receive 2.00 shares of Thermo common stock for each Fisher share, an aggregate equity value of $10.6 billion, not including $2.2 billion of net debt.⁠[4]

The merger was completed on November 9, 2006, creating Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “TMO” and had about $9 billion in revenues and 30,000 employees. Marijn E. Dekkers became president and chief executive officer and Paul M. Meister chairman of the board.⁠[5]

In September 2009, Marijn E. Dekkers resigned as president, chief executive officer and director. On September 14 the board appointed Marc N. Casper, executive vice president and chief operating officer since May 2008, as president, chief executive officer and a director; both changes took effect on October 15, 2009.⁠[6]

On February 3, 2014, Thermo Fisher completed its acquisition of Life Technologies Corporation for about $76.13 in cash per fully diluted share, or approximately $13.6 billion, plus the assumption of $1.5 billion in net debt. It had agreed to sell its cell culture (sera and media), gene modulation and magnetic beads businesses to GE Healthcare for $1.06 billion.⁠[7]

On September 19, 2016, Thermo Fisher completed its acquisition of FEI Company, a high-performance electron microscopy company, for $107.50 per share in cash, a total purchase price of approximately $4.2 billion.⁠[8]

In late 2017, Human Rights Watch said Thermo Fisher had supplied sequencers for authorities’ project to build a DNA database covering everyone in Xinjiang; the company replied that it could not monitor how all its products were used. In February 2019 it stopped selling genetic sequencing equipment in Xinjiang, saying it had made “fact-specific assessments.”⁠[9]

On August 29, 2017, Thermo Fisher completed its acquisition of Patheon for $35.00 per share in cash, approximately $7.2 billion in total. Patheon is a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) serving the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors, with fiscal 2016 revenue of about $1.9 billion.⁠[10]

On March 3, 2020, Thermo Fisher announced an offer of €39 per share for QIAGEN and later raised it to €43 per share, valuing the deal at $12.5 billion. Only about 47% of QIAGEN shares were tendered, short of the 66.67% threshold, and in August 2020 Thermo Fisher terminated the agreement; QIAGEN paid it a $95 million expense reimbursement.⁠[11]

On March 13, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an Emergency Use Authorization for Thermo Fisher’s TaqPath COVID-19 Combo Kit within 24 hours of receiving the request. It was the agency’s fourth COVID-19 diagnostic Emergency Use Authorization.⁠[12]

On December 8, 2021, Thermo Fisher completed its $17.4 billion acquisition of PPD, Inc., a provider of clinical research services to the biopharma and biotech industry, which became part of its Laboratory Products and Services segment.⁠[13]

In January 2024, Thermo Fisher said it had decided in mid-2023 to stop selling human identification products in Tibet “based on a number of factors,” which it did not specify. The move followed congressional concern over accounts that Chinese authorities had collected DNA from hundreds of thousands of Tibetans.⁠[14]

On January 30, 2024, Human Rights Watch published a commentary calling on the company to halt all sales of human DNA identification products to China’s police, judiciary and forensic genetics labs until it adopts a rigorous human rights due diligence process with independent auditing.⁠[15]

On July 10, 2024, Thermo Fisher accepted all securities validly tendered in its offer and completed its acquisition of Olink Holding AB (publ), a provider of next-generation proteomics solutions, for $26.00 per share and per ADS in cash, approximately $3.1 billion net of acquired cash. Olink became part of the Life Sciences Solutions segment.⁠[16]

On September 2, 2025, Thermo Fisher completed its acquisition of Solventum’s Purification & Filtration business, serving bioprocessing filtration, healthcare and industrial filtration, and membranes, for approximately $4.0 billion in cash. The business, with about $750 million of revenue, became part of the Life Sciences Solutions segment.⁠[17]

The company reports four segments: Life Sciences Solutions, Analytical Instruments, Specialty Diagnostics, and Laboratory Products and Biopharma Services. As of December 31, 2025, it employed approximately 125,000 colleagues globally.⁠[18]

On January 12, 2026, the company announced that Executive Vice President Gianluca Pettiti would become president and chief operating officer effective March 1, 2026, when Marc N. Casper would become chairman and chief executive officer. Michel Lagarde, executive vice president and chief operating officer since 2021, was to leave on March 31, 2026, and Executive Vice President Frederick M. Lowery on February 28.⁠[19]

Revenue for full-year 2025 grew 4% to $44.56 billion, from $42.88 billion in 2024; net income attributable to Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. was $6,704 million, versus $6,335 million, and diluted earnings per share were $17.74.⁠[20]

On March 24, 2026, Thermo Fisher completed its acquisition of Clario Holdings, Inc., a provider of endpoint data solutions for clinical trials, for $8.875 billion in cash; it also agreed to pay $125 million in January 2027 and up to $400 million of earn-out payments. Clario became part of the Laboratory Products and Biopharma Services segment.⁠[21]

By August 2026, Thermo Fisher had completed the sale of its microbiology business to the pan-European private equity firm Astorg for approximately $1.075 billion, consisting of cash and a $50 million seller note. The business, which provides antimicrobial susceptibility testing and culture media solutions, generated $645 million of revenue in 2025 and was part of the Specialty Diagnostics segment.⁠[22]

Third-quarter 2026 revenue was $12.14 billion, up 9% from $11.12 billion a year earlier, with organic growth of 6%; net income attributable to Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. was $1,721 million and diluted earnings per share were $4.64.⁠[23]