improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article needs to be updated . please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information . february 2016 this article relies too much on references to primary sources . please improve this by adding secondary or tertiary sources . july 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message medtronic type public nyse mdt s & p 500 component industry medical equipment founded 1949 ; 67 years ago 1949 headquarters dublin ireland principal executive office fridley minnesota operational headquarters 1 key people omar ishrak chairman and ceo products medical devices revenue usd28 .005 billion with covidien website www.medtronic.com medtronic is a medical device company headquartered in dublin ireland . 1 2 3 4 their operational headquarters is in fridley minnesota . 1 5 medtronic is the world s largest standalone medical technology development company . 6 in 2015 at the time of its acquisition of covidien medtronic s market capitalisation was about usd100 billion while the market capitalisation for crhf ireland s largest indigenous business was usd18 .4 billion . 7 medtronic operates in more than 140 countries 1 employs over 85 000 people and has more than 53 000 patents . 8 contents 1 history 1.1 acquisition history 2 business units 2.1 cardiac rhythm disease management 2.2 spinal and biologics 2.3 cardiovascular 2.4 neuromodulation 2.5 diabetes 2.6 surgical technologies 2.7 technology safety 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit medtronic operational headquarters in fridley minnesota a suburb of minneapolis medtronic was founded in 1949 in northeast minneapolis by earl bakken and his brother in law palmer hermundslie as a medical equipment repair shop . 9 through their repair business bakken came to know dr c. walton lillehei a doctor in the field of heart surgery then at the university of minnesota medical school . the deficiencies of the pacemakers of the day were made painfully obvious following a power outage over halloween in 1957 which affected large sections of minnesota and western wisconsin . 10 as a direct result of this blackout a pacemaker dependent paediatric patient of lillehei died . the next day lillehei spoke with bakken about developing some form of battery powered pacemaker . stemming from this need bakken modified a design for a transistorized metronome to create the first battery powered external artificial pacemaker . medtronic s old headquarters in st. anthony minnesota the company expanded through the 1950s mostly selling equipment built by other companies but also developing some custom devices . bakken built a small transistorised pacemaker that could be strapped to the body and powered by batteries . work into this new field continued producing an implantable pacemaker in 1960 . it built a headquarters in the minneapolis suburb of st. anthony in 1960 11 and moved to fridley in the 1970s . medtronic s main competitors in the cardiac rhythm field include boston scientific and st. jude medical . in 1998 medtronic acquired physio control for usd538 million . 12 in 2005 2008 and 2010 peta threatened to submit a shareholder resolution in order to improve animal welfare standards in the company . in 2005 peta attempted to stop five specific animal experiments which they deemed crude and cruel . in 2008 peta protested the outsourcing of animal testing to countries with lax animal welfare laws such as china . in 2010 peta attempted to stop medtronic s reported use of live animals in testing and training . in response medtronic conducted a feasibility study to see whether banning the use of live animals was practical . this study concluded that it was not and medtronic continues to use live animals for testing and training but has said that they will look for alternatives in the future . in each case peta withdrew its shareholder resolution after talks with medtronic s leadership . 13 14 after 2008 and the global financial crisis medtronic stock value dropped dramatically . despite sales and margin well above the average of most industries with steady revenue growth since 2008 and a gross margin above 60 % medtronic initiated a series of restructurings in 2008 2009 2010 and 2011 including physio control s spin off for usd487 million 15 and the stock price now approaches pre recession values . in may 2014 medtronic agreed to pay over usd1 billion to settle patent litigation with edwards lifesciences after years of protracted legal battles . clarification needed 16 in june 2014 medtronic announced its acquisition of covidien plc of ireland for usd42 .9 billion in cash and stock . 17 this was the largest acquisition in its history . following the acquisition medtronic ceased to be a minnesota based company moving its headquarters to low tax ireland allowing it to avoid taxation on more than usd14 billion held overseas . 4 18 in february 2016 the company announced it would acquire bellco from private equity firm charme capital partners . 19 in june 2016 the company announced its acquisition of heartware international inc. for 1.1 billion . 20 acquisition history edit the following is an illustration of the company s major mergers acquisitions and historical predecessors medtronic plc medtronic medtronic founded 1949 ardian inc 21 acq 2010 osteotech inc 22 acq 2010 ats medical 23 acq 2010 krauth cardiovascular 24 acq 2010 fogazzi 24 acq 2010 invatec 24 acq 2010 peak surgical inc 25 acq 2011 salient surgical technologies inc 26 acq 2011 china kanghui holdings 27 acq 2012 ngc medical 28 acq 2014 sapiens steering brain stimulation acq 2014 29 tyrx inc acq 2014 30 covidien sapheon inc 31 acq 2014 reverse medical corporation 32 acq 2014 given imaging 33 acq 2014 aspect medical systems somanetics corp 34 acq 2010 ev3 inc 35 acq 2010 cv ingenuity 36 acq 2012 b rrx 37 acq 2012 newport medical instruments 38 acq 2012 superdimension 39 acq 2012 oridion systems 40 acq 2012 vnus medical technologies covidien formed 2007 from tyco international healthcare business spin off advanced uro solutions 41 acq 2015 diabeter 42 acq 2015 cardioinsight technologies 43 acq 2015 aptus endosystems 44 acq 2015 rf surgical systems 45 acq 2015 medina medical 46 acq 2015 lazarus effect 47 acq 2015 bellco 48 acq 2016 heartware international inc acq 2016 business units edit medtronic is composed of six main business units which develop and manufacture devices and therapies to treat more than 30 chronic diseases including heart failure parkinson s disease urinary incontinence down s syndrome obesity chronic pain spinal disorders and diabetes cardiac rhythm disease management edit the cardiac rhythm disease management crdm is the oldest and largest of medtronic s business units . its work in heart rhythm therapies dates back to 1957 when co founder earl bakken developed the first wearable heart pacemaker to treat abnormally slow heart rates . since then crdm has expanded its expertise in electrical stimulation to treat other cardiac rhythm diseases . crdm has also made an effort to address overall disease management by adding diagnostic and monitoring capabilities to many of its devices . an independently operating dutch pacemaker manufacturer vitatron acquired by medtronic in 1986 is now a european subsidiary of the medtronic crdm unit . 49 medtronic and vitatron pacemakers are interrogated and programmed by medtronic carelink model 2090 programmer for medtronic and vitatron devices using separate interfaces . 50 in 2007 medtronic recalled its sprint fidelis product consisting of the flexible wires or leads which connect a defibrillator to the interior of the heart . the sprint fidelis leads were found to be failing at an unacceptable rate resulting in unnecessary shocks or a failure to administer a shock when needed ; either can be lethal . the scope of this problem continues to be a matter of research . studies since the recall disputed by medtronic suggest the failure rate of already implanted sprint fidelis leads is increasing exponentially . medtronic liability in this matter is limited by various court decisions . 51 spinal and biologics edit spinal and biologics is medtronic s second largest business and medtronic is the world leader in spinal and musculoskeletal therapies . in 2007 medtronic purchased kyphon a manufacturer and seller of spinal implants necessary for procedures like kyphoplasty . 52 in may 2008 medtronic spine agreed to pay the us government usd75 million to settle a qui tam whistleblower lawsuit alleging that medtronic committed medicare fraud . the company was charged with illegally convincing healthcare providers to offer kyphoplasty a spinal fracture repair surgery as an inpatient rather than outpatient procedure thereby making thousands more in profits per surgery . 53 a special report by writer steven brill in time showed that according to medtronic s quarterly sec filing of october 2012 the company has on average a 75.1 % profit margin on its spine products and therapies . 54 cardiovascular edit medtronic s therapies in this business span the major specialities of interventional cardiology cardiac surgery and vascular surgery . the products are used to reduce the potentially debilitating effects of coronary aortic and structural heart disease . neuromodulation edit neuromodulation is the second oldest and third largest department of medtronic . its products include neurostimulation systems and implantable drug delivery systems for chronic pain common movement disorders and urologic and gastrointestinal disorders . medtronic s neuromodulation relies on innovative development methodologies to build cutting edge medical technology devices with embedded software . the department s revenues in 2014 amounted to 1.9 billion or 11 % of medtronic s total revenues . 55 diabetes edit medtronic diabetes is the diabetes management manufacturing and sales division of medtronic based in northridge california . 56 the original company minimed technologies was founded in the early 1980s by alfred mann and spun off from pacesetter systems in order to design a practical insulin pump for lifelong wear . 57 most devices at the time were either too large or impossible to program and extremely unreliable . the release of the lightweight menu driven minimed 500 series changed the landscape and was a major factor in bringing insulin pump usage to the mainstream . in 1996 the minimed was redesigned by the innovation consulting rks design to look more flashy more elegant and resemble a beeper ; the friendliness of the device boosted adoption rate and sales increased by 357 % . 58 in the early 2000s medtronic purchased minimed to form medtronic minimed . 59 on 11 may 2009 medtronic announced it had chosen san antonio texas for the location of its new diabetes therapy management and education center . the company announced that it expected 1 400 new jobs would be created to staff the 150 000 square foot 14 000 m2 facility . 60 in september 2016 the fda approved a device called minimed 670g which automatically pumps insulin to a diabetic patient s body on sensing its absence or reduction . 61 surgical technologies edit o arm surgical imaging system . federal center of neurosurgery in tyumen 2013 the surgical technologies business designs and manufactures products for the diagnosis and treatment of ear nose and throat ent diseases and cranial spinal and neurologic conditions . it also encompasses a surgical navigation division that designs stealthstation systems software and instruments for computer assisted surgery cas and a special intraoperative x ray imaging system known as the o arm imaging system . many of these products are used for minimally invasive surgical procedures . in 2016 surgical technologies as a business unit was dissolved and each site folded into new business groups . technology safety edit jay radcliffe an independent security researcher presented a speech at the blackhat 2011 . he revealed a security vulnerability in the medtronic brand insulin pump allowing an attacker remote control of that pump . medtronic responded by assuring users of the full safety of their devices .