as nyse lh s & p 500 component industry health care founded 1978 headquarters burlington north carolina u.s. key people david p. king ceo services clinical laboratory revenue us 8 505.7 million 2015 1 us 6 011.6 million 2014 1 operating income us 1 002.9 million 2015 1 us 910.4 million 2014 1 net income us 436.9 million 2015 1 us 511.2 million 2014 1 total assets us 14 221.7 million 2015 1 us 7 301.8 million 2014 1 total equity us 4 944.4 million 2015 1 us 2 820.5 million 2014 1 website www.labcorp.com laboratory corporation of america holdings more commonly known as labcorp is an american s & p 500 company headquartered in burlington north carolina . it operates one of the largest clinical laboratory networks in the world with a united states network of 36 primary laboratories . before a merger with national health laboratory in 1995 the company operated under the name roche biomedical . labcorp performs its largest volume of specialty testing at its center for esoteric testing in burlington north carolina where the company is headquartered . 2 3 labcorp was an early pioneer of genomic testing using polymerase chain reaction pcr technology at its center for molecular biology and pathology in research triangle park north carolina where it also performs other molecular diagnostics . it also does oncology testing human immunodeficiency virus hiv genotyping and phenotyping . 2 3 labcorp also operates the national genetics institute inc. ngi in los angeles california which develops pcr testing methods . 4 labcorp s viromed facility originally in minnetonka minnesota until closing this site in 2013 5 is now housed in burlington nc 6 and performs real time pcr microbial testing using laboratory developed assays . labcorp also provides testing in puerto rico and outside the united states in three canadian provinces . 2 labcorp utilizes 7 pa 31 350 s and 1 pc 12 aircraft on nightly runs from burlington nc for use on the east coast . labcorp has been criticized for its practice of paying the salaries of genetic counselors in hospitals and doctors offices which is perceived to be a possible conflict of interest . 7 contents 1 history 1.1 revlon 1.2 national health laboratories inc. 1.3 national health laboratories holdings 1.4 laboratory corporation of america holdings 1.5 acquisition history 2 corporate governance 3 references 4 external links history edit revlon edit national health laboratories incorporated began in 1978 . 8 the company was a national blood and pathology laboratory owned by the revlon health care group and managed by michael e. lillig for seven years . lillig had earlier been with becton dickinson and company . at national health laboratories inc. he grew annual sales of the company each year by 43 % with revenue reaching 12 million by the end of his tenure . lillig then left to found several health care companies including syscor inc. intelysis inc. asterion llc and metacyte s 3dr in louisville kentucky . 9 national health laboratories inc. edit in 1988 national health laboratories became publicly traded on the nasdaq exchange . 10 revlon retained 24 % ownership of the common shares 10 for the next six years . 11 revlon had been a publicly traded company since the 1950s as it was during most of its ownership of national health laboratories . but in 1985 revlon had been taken over by ronald perelman . through early 1995 the national health laboratories principal executive offices were located at 4225 executive square suite 805 in la jolla california . 12 in 1989 the company generated revenue of about us 400 million with about us 70 million in earnings . 13 in 1990 the company s revenues reached us 500 million with over us 70 million in earnings . 13 that year the company began paying a cash dividend to shareholders . 11 in 1991 national health laboratories moved from the nasdaq otc exchange to the new york stock exchange where it began to trade under the new ticker symbol nh . 13 up until that time the company had performed very well including through the 1990 1991 recession . its earnings peaked that year at almost us 90 million and its stock price had risen from its low within the prior few years by several fold . 11 however beginning in 1991 the company became embroiled in operation labscam a nationwide crackdown on fraud in the health care system initiated by the u.s. attorney s office in san diego california . the charges were that the company and others routinely submitted false claims to the government health care agencies medicare and medicaid for unnecessary tests which physicians had never ordered . in 1992 national health laboratories became the first of the companies to be prosecuted in the government operation . 14 in 1992 the company reported revenues of over us 720 million however with earnings of only us 40 million . the small gain that year reflected a fourth quarter charge of us 80 million which the company paid in a settlement agreement with state and federal governments related to the labscam investigation . 15 the total payments made by national health laboratories in the settlement came to us 111 million that year 16 and ultimately reached us 173 million . 14 in 1993 revenues were up to us 761 million with new peak earnings of nearly us 113 million . 15 by that time the company had 22 major laboratories . 17 the stock price reached a new all time high in 1993 which became the peak for the next couple of years and the company was added to the s & p midcap 400 list . 11 national health laboratories holdings edit on march 8 1994 national health laboratories inc. reorganized as a holding company national health laboratories holdings inc. 12 by 1994 macandrews & forbes holdings inc. then owned the revlon holdings group s former 24 percent of national health laboratories holdings . 17 that company was a distributor of licorice extract and chocolate which had previously been taken over along with revlon by ronald perelman in the 1980s . 16 on may 4 1994 national health laboratories announced that it would acquire allied clinical laboratories inc. of nashville tennessee 16 reducing their takeover offer to 204 million after federal officials issued new subpoenas in an investigation of medicare billing practices at allied clinical laboratories inc. 18 in 1993 allied generated revenues of us 163 million . the former president and ceo of allied clinical haywood d. cochrane jr. then became vice chairman of national health laboratories . in order to complete the cash transaction the company discontinued paying its dividend at that time . 19 by the end of 1994 the company had run into financial difficulty again as it struggled through the economic soft landing that year . its earnings dropped by over two thirds to only us 30 million . the stock never traded that year at more than half of its 1993 peak and at its 1994 low it was down by nearly two thirds from the all time high . 11 laboratory corporation of america holdings edit on april 28 1995 national health laboratories holdings inc. merged with roche biomedical laboratories inc. and changed its name to laboratory corporation of america holdings . it began trading under its new ticker symbol lh . 20 shareholders of national health laboratories received 0.72 shares of the new company plus 5.60 in cash for a 50.1 percent interest in the new company . at the time james r. maher was president and chief executive officer of national health laboratories . following the merger maher relinquished those positions and instead became chairman of the new company succeeding the financier ronald o. perelman in that position . perelman received about us 100 million from the deal which made the new company the largest blood testing company in the united states . 16 17 the merged company created revenues of us 1.7 billion . 17 national health laboratories already held long term debt of us 351 million . 11 together with the roche debt the combined companies owed us 590 million prior to the merger . another us 288 million was added to help finance the payout to shareholders . 16 by year end 1995 the new company s total debt reached us 959 million . 11 roche biomedical laboratories had been created by and was a wholly owned subsidiary of hoffmann la roche inc. the american arm of the swiss medical conglomerate roche holding limited . before 1982 the core of roche biomedical laboratories had been biomedical reference laboratories which dated from the late 1960s and was located in burlington north carolina . that core company had become publicly traded in 1979 . hoffman la roche acquired it for us 163.5 million in 1982 and then merged it with all of its laboratories and incorporated the merged company that year as roche biomedical laboratories inc. in burlington . by the early 1990s roche biomedical had become one of the largest clinical laboratory networks in the united states with us 600 million in sales . 21 by 1993 roche biomedical laboratories had revenues of us 712 million with 17 major laboratories . dr. james powell was president of roche biomedical and after the merger with national health laboratories he became president and ceo of the new company laboratory corporation of america holdings which then relocated from la jolla california to the roche biomedical headquarters in burlington north carolina . hoffmann la roche also contributed us 186.7 million in cash to the deal and retained 49.9 interest in the new merged company . 17 by year end 1995 the new laboratory corporation of america holdings suffered a marginal loss of a few million dollars . the stock price dropped by almost half again through the year to within 10 % of its all time low since going public a half dozen years earlier . by early the next year it broke marginally below that level and set a new all time low . 11 in july 1998 labcorp acquired the michigan based laboratory division of universal standard healthcare uhci . labcorp also acquired an equity position in universal standard healthcare and has become uhci s clinical laboratory long term testing provider 22 but terminated this agreement one year later . 23 in june 2000 labcorp completed the acquisition of san diego based pathology medical laboratories for an undisclosed amount . 24 in 2000 labcorp generated revenues of us 1.9 billion with over 18 000 employees . 3 in may 2001 labcorp completed its acquisition of path lab holdings inc. the largest regional laboratory in new england 25 and just a few weeks later the acquisition of minneapolis based viromed inc. specialized on clinical diagnostic testing in virology molecular biology serology microbiology mycology and mycobacteriology as well as in tissue eye bank testing for an undisclosed amount . 26 in december 2001 labcorp became the exclusive marketer for genomics and proteomics predictive cancer test products made by myriad genetics inc. 27 in may 2002 labcorp announced the acquisition of all outstanding shares of canadian medical laboratory services company dynacare inc. for 480 million in cash and own shares . 28 in january 2003 labcorp acquired all of the outstanding shares of dianon a provider of anatomical pathology and oncology testing services 29 for 598 million in cash . 30 in 2005 labcorp s revenues totaled 3.3 billion ; in 2006 revenues were 3.6 billion ; and in 2007 revenues reached 4.1 billion . 31 in march 2005 labcorp announced the acquisition of all outstanding shares of esoterix inc. a leading provider of specialty reference testing for approximately 150 million in cash from private equity firm behrman capital . 32 in november 2006 labcorp acquired litholink corporation a kidney stone analysis laboratory . 2 in december 2007 labcorp acquired tandem labs a contract research organization specializing in