Healthcare · Profile from Healthcare Research Companion
Amwell (American Well Corporation)
The Boston telehealth software company founded in 2006 by physician brothers Ido and Roy Schoenberg. It sold white-label video-visit platforms to health plans and hospitals long before the pandemic made telehealth ordinary. Amwell raised ~$922m around its September 2020 New York Stock Exchange IPO, including $100m from Google. It then spent four years watching revenue stall at ~$250m a year, losses mount and its share price fall more than 95%. Health systems standardised on the video built into their electronic health records, plans cut back on stand-alone virtual benefits, and the expensive move to its new Converge platform took longer than planned. By 2026 Amwell had sold or shut its side businesses and become a smaller subscription-software company. Its largest bet was the US Military Health System, which said in 2026 it intended to make Amwell a prime contractor. It is a case study in how "telehealth as a feature" becomes a weak position once the EHR vendor and the buyer's own clinicians can supply the feature.
At a glance
- Founded
- June 2006, Boston, Massachusetts, as American Well; renamed Amwell in March 2020
- Founders
- Ido Schoenberg, MD and Roy Schoenberg, MD (brothers; Ido earlier co-founded critical-care software maker iMDsoft in 1996; Roy founded CareKey, sold to TriZetto in 2005)
- Headquarters
- Boston, Massachusetts
- Ownership / structure
- Public company, NYSE: AMWL (IPO 17 September 2020). Class A, B (founder, super-voting) and C (non-voting, held by Google) shares. 1-for-20 reverse split effective 10 July 2024 to keep the NYSE listing. Clinical services are delivered by the affiliated Amwell Medical Group (physician-owned professional corporations under management agreements, the usual corporate-practice-of-medicine structure)
- Leadership (2026)
- Ido Schoenberg, chairman and CEO (sole CEO since June 2024); Mark Hirschhorn, CFO. Roy Schoenberg was president and co-CEO until 13 June 2024, then executive vice chairman; he left the board in May 2026 and became head of Amazon Health Services from 1 July 2026 (reported)
- Segment and buyer
- Digital health / health IT. Buyers: health plans (white-label virtual care for members), health systems (provider platform), employers (via plans), the US Defense Health Agency (DHA), and international payers. Revenue lines: platform subscriptions, Amwell Medical Group visits (billed to plans and patients), and services/devices
- Scale
- ~$245m revenue (2020); peak ~$277m (2022); $249.3m (2025); 2026 guidance $200–205m after divestitures (raised low end, August 2026). ~1.1m total visits in Q1 2026. Historically "all 50 states, 55 health plans, 240 health systems" (company, around 2020)
- Capital raised / valuation / market cap
- >$500m privately (2006–2020; investors included Anthem, Philips, Allianz, Teva); IPO ~41.2m shares at $18 (above the $14–16 range), ~$742m base; with the over-allotment and Google's $100m concurrent private placement, ~$922m gross to the company. Share price peaked above ~$40 (pre-split) in early 2021 (reported, verify); ~$8.84 post-split in May 2026 (equivalent to ~$0.44 pre-split)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Founding and the health-plan platform (2006–09); patent wars with Teladoc (2015–22); Avizia and the hospital push with Philips money (2018); IPO with Google (2020); SilverCloud and Conversa (~$320m, 2021); Converge platform migration and the 2023 impairments (2022–23); Defense Health Agency contract (2023–26); restructuring, reverse split and founder role change (2024); divestitures and the single-platform reset (2025–26)
9 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2006
Founding and Health Plan Platform
Founding / business model
2015
Patent Wars with Teladoc
Litigation (offensive, then defensive)
2018
Avizia Acquisition and Philips Partnership
Acquisition, funding round and strategic partnership
2020
IPO and Google Investment
IPO with concurrent strategic private placement
2021
SilverCloud and Conversa Acquisitions
Acquisition (two targets, one announcement)
2022
Converge Platform Migration
Product rebuild and platform migration, followed by write-downs and a guidance cut
2023
Defense Health Agency Contract
Government contract (subcontract, then intended direct prime contract)
2024
Restructuring and Reverse Split
Restructuring (cost cuts, leadership change, capital-structure action)
2025
Divestitures and Single Platform Reset
Divestiture and strategy reset