“There’s a lot going on in healthcare right now,” Alex Gorsky, CEO and chairman of the 131-year-old Johnson & Johnson told Fox news recently. “And we’re really excited about it.”
Founded in 1886 by Robert Wood Johnson and his two brothers to make surgical dressings, the New Brunswick, N.J. company later expanded to include consumer goods such as its famous baby powder. Over the years, Johnson & Johnson grew internationally and opened new divisions making medical devices and pharmaceuticals.
Titantic blue chip companies often find it difficult to continue growing, but under Gorsky, Johnson & Johnson is doing just that, by capitalizing on innovative organic growth opportunities and smart acquisitions, such as the Swiss company Actelion, a purchase that closed in June.
“The world today requires the very best that Johnson & Johnson has to offer, and we are constantly striving to come up with ways we can innovate and lead.”
The Motley Fool’s Dan Caplinger writes that the Actelion acquisition had “a clear and substantial impact on Johnson & Johnson’s overall results” in the third quarter, adding almost 8 percentage points to the pharmaceutical sales growth rate. The company now expects overall revenues between $76.1 billion and $76.5 billion for the year, boosting the upper end of its projection by $400 million.
For the second year in a row, Johnson & Johnson has been nominated to the annual Fortune ‘Change the World’ list. This year, the company is ranked No. 9 for its work with mMitra, an innovative mobile-messaging program that sends vital health information to expectant and new mothers living in low-income urban communities in India.
“The world today requires the very best that Johnson & Johnson has to offer, and we are constantly striving to come up with ways we can innovate and lead,” Gorsky says.
Gorsky is No. 38 on Chief Executive and RHR International’s CEO1000 Tracker, a ranking of the top 1,000 public/private companies.
Alex Gorsky
Chairman (Since December 28th, 2012) and CEO (Since April 26th, 2012), Johnson & Johnson
Previous Position: Vice Chairman
Company start date: 1988
First Position at Company: Sales Representative with Janssen Pharmaceuticals (J&J is the parent company)
Age: 57
Education: B.S. from US Military Academy in West Point, NY and an M.B.A from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
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