nyse abt s & p 500 component industry health care founded 1888 ; 128 years ago 1888 as abbott alkaloidal company founder dr. wallace calvin abbott headquarters lake bluff illinois united states area served worldwide key people miles d. white ceo products branded generic drugs medical devices diagnostic assays nutritional products revenue us 20.405 billion 2015 1 operating income us 02.867 billion 2015 2 net income us 04.423 billion 2015 2 total assets us 41.247 billion 2015 2 total equity us 21.211 billion 2015 2 number of employees 74 000 2015 1 website abbott.com abbott laboratories is an american 3 worldwide health care company . it has 74 000 employees and operates in more than 150 countries . 1 4 the company headquarters are in lake bluff illinois . the company was founded by chicago physician wallace calvin abbott in 1888 . in 2014 revenues were 20.2 billion . abbott has a broad range of branded generic pharmaceuticals medical devices diagnostics nutrition products including ensure a line of meal replacement shakes . the company s in vitro diagnostics business performs immunoassays and blood screening . its medical tests and diagnostic instrument systems are used worldwide by hospitals laboratories blood banks and physician offices to diagnose and monitor diseases such as hiv hepatitis cancer heart failure and metabolic disorders as well as assess other indicators of health . in 1985 the company developed the first hiv blood screening test . abbott point of care manufactures diagnostic products for blood analysis to provide health care professionals diagnostics information at the point of patient care . abbott also provides point of care cardiac assays to the emergency room . contents 1 history 2 organization 2.1 abbvie 2.2 acquisition history 3 management structure 4 management practices 5 litigation 5.1 humira 5.2 depakote 6 sponsorship 7 see also 8 notes and references 9 external links history edit dr. wallace c. abbott in 1888 at the age of 30 wallace abbot 1857 1921 an 1885 graduate of the university of michigan founded the abbott alkaloidal company . at the time he was a practicing physician and owned a drug store . his innovation was the use of the active part of a medicinal plant generally an alkaloid morphine quinine strychnine and codeine which he formed into tiny dosimetric granules . this approach was successful since it produced more consistent and effective dosages for patients . 5 abbott s first international affiliate was in london in 1907 and the company later added an affiliate in montreal canada fact 21 . abbott started operations in pakistan as a marketing affiliate in 1948 ; the company has steadily expanded to comprise a work force of over 1500 employees . currently two manufacturing facilities located at landhi and korangi in karachi continue to use innovative technology to produce top quality pharmaceutical products . 6 expansion continued in 1962 when abbott entered into a joint venture with dainippon pharmaceutical co. ltd. of osaka japan to manufacture radio pharmaceuticals . in 1965 abbott s expansion in europe continued with offices in italy and france . abbott laboratories has been present in india for over 100 years through its subsidiary abbott india limited and it is currently india s largest healthcare products company . 7 according to harvard professor lester grinspoon and peter hedblom in 1966 abbott laboratories sold the equivalent of two million doses of methamphetamine in powder form to a long island criminal dealer . 8 in 2009 abbott opened a satellite research and development facility at research park university of illinois at urbana champaign . citation needed in may 2014 the company entered into a binding agreement to acquire chilean generic pharmaceutical company cfr in a deal worth 2.9 billion which the company said would more than double its branded generic drug portfolio . 9 in june 2014 the company entered into a definitive agreement to take over russian pharmaceutical manufacturer veropharm voronezh in a deal worth 631 million . 10 abbott which already employs 1 400 people in russia said it planned to set up a manufacturing presence in the country when the deal closed . 11 organization edit abbott office abbott s core businesses focus on pharmaceuticals medical devices and nutritional products which have been supplemented through acquisitions . as of 2016 update the firm s divisions are diabetes care 10 glucose monitoring devices diagnostics 10 hematology immunodiagnostic oncology and clinical chemistry including the i stat endovascular 10 established pharmaceuticals epd 10 branded generic drugs sold exclusively in developing markets . medical devices 10 medical optics 10 nutrition 10 baby nutrition e.g. similac isomil and gain adult health products e.g. ensure and zoneperfect and special dietary needs e.g. glucerna and juven the company has divested itself of less profitable businesses through sales and spinoffs . in 1964 it acquired ross laboratories making ross a wholly owned subsidiary of abbott . in 2001 the company acquired knoll the pharmaceutical division of basf . in 2002 it divested the selsun blue brand to chattem . later in 2002 the company sold clear eyes and murine to prestige brands . citation needed in 2004 it spun off its hospital products division into a new 14 000 employee company named hospira and acquired therasense a diabetes care company which it merged with its medisense division to become abbott diabetes care . in 2006 abbott assisted boston scientific in its purchase of guidant corporation . as part of the agreement abbott purchased the vascular device division of guidant . in 2007 ross was renamed abbott nutrition . in 2007 abbott acquired kos pharmaceuticals for 3.7 billion in cash . citation needed at the time of acquisition kos marketed niaspan which raises levels of good or hdl cholesterol and advicor a niaspan combination drug for patients with multiple lipid disorders . in january 2007 the company agreed to sell its in vitro diagnostics and point of care diagnostics divisions to general electric for more than 8 billion . these units were slated to be integrated into the ge healthcare business unit . the transaction was approved by the boards of directors of abbott and ge and was targeted to close in the first half of 2007 . however on july 11 2007 abbott announced that it had terminated its agreement with ge because the parties could not agree on the terms of the deal . 12 on september 8 2007 the company completed the sale of the uk manufacturing plant at queenborough to aesica pharmaceuticals a private equity owned uk manufacturer . no announcements have been made restricting the movement of staff to abbott unlike other sell outs . on february 26 2009 the company completed its acquisition of advanced medical optics based in santa ana california . in february 2010 abbott completed its 6.2 billion eur 4.5 billion acquisition of the pharmaceuticals unit of solvay s.a. . 13 this provided abbott with a large and complementary portfolio of pharmaceutical products and also expanding its presence in key emerging markets . 14 on march 22 2010 the company completed its acquisition of a hollywood florida based lims company starlims . under the terms of the deal abbott laboratories acquired the company for 14 per share in an all cash transaction valued at 123 million . 15 on may 21 2010 abbott laboratories said it would buy piramal healthcare ltd. s healthcare solutions unit for 2.2 16 billion to become the biggest drug company in india . 17 on may 16 2014 it was announced that abbott would acquire the holding company kalo pharma internacional s.l. for 2.9 billion in order to secure the 73 % it held of chilean pharmaceutical company cfr pharmaceuticals . 10 18 in february 2016 the company announced it would acquire alere for 5.8 billion . 19 20 in late april of the same year abbott announced it would acquire st. jude medical for 25 billion each share receiving 46.75 in cash & 0.8708 shares of abbott common stock equating to an approximate value of 85 . 10 21 22 abbvie edit on october 19 2011 the company announced that it planned to separate into two companies one in medical products and the other in research based pharmaceuticals . both are publicly traded . the medical products company retained the abbott name . the research based pharmaceuticals company is named abbvie . 23 24 in preparation for this reorganization abbott drastically cut expenses and took a 478 million charge in q3 2012 to pay for the restructuring . 25 the separation was effective as of january 1 2013 . 26 abbvie was officially listed in the new york stock exchange on january 2 2013 . 27 acquisition history edit the following is an illustration of the company s major mergers and acquisitions and historical predecessors this is not a comprehensive list illustration of the company s mergers acquisitions spin offs and historical predecessors abbott laboratories abbott alkaloidal company est 1885 ross laboratories acq 1964 smithkline beecham acq 1982 knoll acq 2001 selsun blue sold to chattem 2002 murine sold to prestige brands2002 clear eyes sold to prestige brands 2002 guidant vascular device div acq 2006 therasense acq 2004 hospira spun off 2004 advanced medical optics acq 2009 intralase corp acq 2007 solvay pharmaceuticals acq 2010 starlims acq 2010 lab data management ltd acq 2008 abbvie spun off 2013 idev technologies acq 2013 optimedica corporation 28 acq 2013 veropharm 29 acq 2014 topera inc 30 acq 2014 kalo pharma internacional s.l. acq 2014 cfr pharmaceuticals alere inc acq 2016 st. jude medical acq 2016 st. jude medical est 1976 pacesetter inc. acq 1994 daig corporation acq 1996 heart valve company acq remaining 50 % from joint venture with hancock jaffe laboratories 1996 biocor industria acq 1996 ventritex acq 1997 tyco international angio seal div acq 1999 endocardial solutions acq 2005 advanced neuromodulation systems acq 2005 mediguide acq 2008 aga medical acq 2010 lightlab imaging acq 2010 cardiomems inc. acq 2014 endosense acq 2013 spinal modulation acq 2015 nanostim inc acq 2013 thoratec corporation acq 2015 apica cardiovascular limited acq 2014 levitronix medical div . acq 2011 getinge group heart pump technology div acq 2014 thermo cardiosystems acq 2010 management structure edit miles d. white is chairman and ceo . 25 he joined abbott in 1984 serving in management positions including senior vice president of diagnostic operations and executive vice president . he was elected to the board of directors in april 1998 to chief executive officer in 1998 and to chairman of the board in april 1999 . citation needed management practices edit along with being ranked 134th on the 2015 fortune 500 list of largest u.s. based corporation citation needed abbott was named one of the 2014 top 20 employers by the journal science and listed as a top 10 company for women by working mother magazine and the national association for female executives . citation needed the company has also been named one of the world s most admired companies by fortune magazine every year since 1984 ranking no. 1 in medical equipment in 2014 and 2015 . citation needed abbott has also been recognized for 11 consecutive years for sustainability leadership through its inclusion on the dow jones sustainability index djsi . citation needed the top employers institute designated abbott as a great place to work in europe and china in 2014 . citation needed diversityinc magazine has recognized abbott repeatedly as a top 50 company for diversity ; and additionally the dave thomas foundation ranked the company as a best company thanks to its generous adoption benefits . citation needed litigation edit humira edit in march 2003 british company cambridge antibody technology cat stated its wish to initiate discussions regarding the applicability of the royalty offset provisions for humira adalimumab with abbott laboratories in the high court of london . in december 2004 the judgment ruled for cat . 31 abbott was required to pay cat us 255 million some of which was to be passed to