Welltower

In 1970 Frederic D. “Fritz” Wolfe co-founded the Health Care Fund, the first real estate investment trust in the United States to focus solely on nursing homes and clinics. The company later became Welltower.⁠[1][2]

Wolfe started Health Care REIT with his YaleYale UniversityYale University is a research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Its predecessor, the Collegiate School, received a charter in 1701. Trustees chose New Haven in 1716; the institution became Yale College in 1718 and Yale University in 1887. Yale provides undergraduate, graduate and professional education and has 14 undergraduate residential colleges. As of October 2026, its president was Maurie McInnis, who took office in July 2024. In 2026, Yale expanded aid for incoming undergraduates and celebrated its 325th anniversary.Open the full entry roommate. It initially financed buildings constructed by HCR ManorCare and had a slow start, because a REIT has to sell stock to grow.⁠[3]

Health Care REIT was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1992. In 1995, when its two founders reached 65, they sold the management contract and the company became self-managed.⁠[3]

On December 20, 2006, Health Care REIT (NYSE: HCN) closed its merger with Windrose Medical Properties Trust (NYSE: WRS), exchanging each Windrose common share for 0.4509 Health Care REIT shares. The combined company had more than 550 properties in 37 states and an enterprise value of about $5 billion.⁠[4]

The aggregate purchase price was approximately $1.018 billion. As of December 31, 2006, the company had 113 full-time employees.⁠[2]

Health Care REIT was added to the S&P 500 effective as of the close of trading on January 29, 2009. The company, headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, invested across senior housing and health care real estate.⁠[5]

On February 28, 2011, Health Care REIT announced the acquisition of substantially all of the real estate assets of privately owned Genesis HealthCare, 147 facilities in 11 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, under a long-term triple-net lease back to Genesis.⁠[6]

The transaction closed on April 1, 2011; the aggregate purchase price for the equity interests of FC-GEN Acquisition Holding was approximately $2.4 billion.⁠[7]

In January 2013 Health Care REIT completed its acquisition of Sunrise Senior Living; Sunrise stockholders received $14.50 per share in cash, and the stock ceased trading after the close on January 8. Sunrise’s management business was sold to an entity formed by affiliates of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., affiliates of Beecken Petty O’Keefe & Company and Health Care REIT.⁠[8]

On April 14, 2014, George L. Chapman, who had led the company for 18 years, retired as Chairman, CEO and President to focus on his health and other commitments, remaining a senior advisor. Director Thomas J. DeRosa became CEO effective immediately, and Lead Director Jeffrey H. Donahue became Chairman, separating the two roles.⁠[9]

On September 28, 2015, Health Care REIT amended its certificate of incorporation to change its name to Welltower Inc., effective at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time on September 30, 2015, when it issued a press release announcing the change.⁠[10]

On February 16, 2018, Welltower announced that the NYSE ticker of its common and preferred stock would change from HCN to WELL, effective with the opening of trading on February 28. CEO DeRosa said, “Wellness is at the center of what we do.”⁠[11]

On July 25, 2018, stockholders of Quality Care Properties (QCP) approved the Welltower merger. QCP then owned 243 post-acute/skilled nursing properties and 61 memory care/assisted living properties.⁠[12]

On July 26, Welltower and ProMedica, a not-for-profit health system, announced the close of their $4.4 billion joint venture acquisition of QCP and its principal tenants, HCR ManorCare and Arden Courts.⁠[13]

On October 5, 2020, Shankh Mitra was appointed Chief Executive Officer and joined the Board, succeeding Thomas J. DeRosa, who stepped down as Chairman and CEO.⁠[14]

Kenneth J. Bacon has served as Chair of the Board since October 2020.⁠[15]

On October 27, 2025, Welltower announced $23 billion of transactions and a sharper focus on seniors housing, including a £5.2 billion purchase of a Barchester-operated UK portfolio (263 communities and 21 developments) and an agreement to sell its outpatient medical portfolio for about $7.2 billion in tranches through mid-2026.⁠[16]

The Barchester acquisition was completed in October 2025, when Welltower also acquired all of the equity in the HC-One-operated UK portfolio for £1.2 billion.⁠[17]

Also on October 27, the Board announced the “10-Year Executive Continuity and Alignment Program” (ECAP), which uses performance-based and time-based LTIP units to replace virtually all other forms of named executive officer compensation from 2026 through 2035, with a performance period from October 6, 2025 to October 5, 2030 and performance equity capped at an implied $350 per share.⁠[15]

Welltower’s 2025 total revenues were $10.84 billion and net income attributable to common stockholders was $936.8 million ($1.39 per diluted share). In the fourth quarter it sold 241 outpatient medical properties for pro rata proceeds of $5.2 billion.⁠[17]

As of December 31, 2025, Welltower had 712 employees and three reportable segments: Seniors Housing Operating, Triple-net and Outpatient Medical.⁠[18]

In April 2026 activist shareholder Land & Buildings published a white paper saying ECAP could award Mitra up to $3.3 billion over 10 years, a scale it called “staggering and historically unprecedented in the REIT industry.” A Welltower spokesperson said the plan “secures the long-term retention of the company’s exceptional leadership.”⁠[19]

At the annual meeting on May 21, 2026, the advisory vote on executive compensation failed, with 120,364,416 votes for and 515,585,650 against; all nine director nominees were elected.⁠[20]

A June 22, 2026 Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal is a U.S. news publication founded in 1889, with a focus on business, finance and economics. It is published by Dow Jones, part of News Corp.Open the full entry analysis of MyLogIQ data ranked Mitra second among the highest-paid CEOs, valuing his long-term pay plan at $821 million. Welltower said it had outperformed the S&P 500 by over 225% since Mitra became CEO in 2020.⁠[21]

In the third quarter of 2026 Welltower’s net income attributable to common stockholders was $0.54 per diluted share and normalized FFO was $1.67 per diluted share, up 24.6% year over year. It completed $4.1 billion of pro rata gross investments in the quarter, including $2.7 billion across 43 seniors housing properties.⁠[22]