Johnson & Johnson is peeling off a consumer health business that helped it become the world’s biggest health care products maker.
The company said Friday that it will separate its segment that sells Band-Aids, Listerine and over-the-counter medicines like Tylenol from its pharmaceutical and medical device businesses.
Company leaders told analysts that the split, which will create another publicly traded company for the consumer health side, will make each business more nimble in adapting to their respective markets.
CEO Alex Gorsky said that while the company’s broad focus has worked in the past, the split addresses segments that “have evolved as fundamentally different businesses.”
“We’ve seen a significant evolution in these markets, particularly on the consumer side,” Gorsky said, referring in part to a shift toward online shopping that accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic.