Healthcare · Profile from Healthcare Research Companion
Cardinal Health, Inc.
The Ohio food wholesaler that became one of the three companies that move most of America's prescription drugs. Cardinal Health is the smallest of the "Big Three" US drug distributors by revenue but the most diversified. It joins a thin-margin, very high-volume pharmaceutical distribution business to a medical-products and distribution arm (gloves, gowns, syringes, catheters, its own-brand supplies), plus nuclear pharmacy, home-delivered medical supplies and, since 2024, a fast-growing set of specialty physician management service organizations. Its history is a run of acquisitions, several of which went wrong (Cordis, the Medtronic patient-care products), followed by a regulatory reckoning over opioids and an activist-driven reset toward the distribution core.
At a glance
- Founded
- 1971, Columbus, Ohio, as Cardinal Foods, a food wholesaler; entered drug distribution in 1979 by buying Bailey Drug Company of Zanesville, Ohio
- Founder
- Robert D. Walter (CEO until 2006)
- Headquarters
- Dublin, Ohio
- Ownership / structure
- Public company, NYSE: CAH (first listed 1983 as Cardinal Distribution; renamed Cardinal Health in 1994)
- Leadership (2026)
- Jason Hollar, Chairman and CEO (CEO since September 2022); Aaron Alt, CFO (since February 2023, ex-Sysco)
- Segments
- Pharmaceutical and Specialty Solutions (US drug distribution, specialty distribution, Red Oak generic sourcing with CVS, The Specialty Alliance MSOs); Global Medical Products and Distribution (GMPD); Other (Nuclear and Precision Health Solutions, at-Home Solutions, OptiFreight Logistics) (segment names as in the FY2026 10-K)
- Payer and customer
- Customers are retail and mail pharmacies (CVS is the largest), hospitals and health systems, physician practices, ambulatory surgery centers and home patients; ultimate payers are PBMs, health plans, Medicare and Medicaid, which reimburse the providers Cardinal sells to
- Scale
- FY2025 (ended June 2025) revenue ~$222.6bn; FY2026 revenue $254.2bn (+14%), non-GAAP operating earnings ~$3.6bn (reported); ~63,900 employees at June 2026 (FY2026 10-K; the count jumped with the MSO deals); among the top 20 US companies by revenue
- Capital / market cap
- Self-funded from operating cash flow (FY2026 ~$5.2bn) and investment-grade debt; ~$1.4bn of buybacks in FY2026 (reported); market cap roughly $15–20bn in 2022, rising to ~$48bn non-affiliate value at 31 December 2025 (FY2026 10-K)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Founding and Bailey Drug (1971–79); Bergen Brunswig merger blocked by the FTC (1998); CareFusion spin-off (2009); loss of Walgreens and launch of Red Oak with CVS (2013–14); Cordis acquisition and exit (2015–21); Medtronic patient-care products bet and impairments (2017); Lakeland DEA suspension and national opioid settlement (2012–22); Elliott settlement and Hollar reset (2022); specialty MSO roll-up into The Specialty Alliance (2024–25)
9 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1971
Founding Cardinal Foods and Bailey Drug
Founding / pivot
1998
Bergen Brunswig Merger Blocked
Merger (blocked)
2009
CareFusion Spin Off
Spin-off
2014
Red Oak Sourcing with CVS
Partnership / joint venture
2015
Cordis Acquisition and Exit
Acquisition, later divestiture
2017
Medtronic Patient Care Bet
Acquisition
2022
Elliott Settlement and Hollar Reset
Restructuring / leadership change
2022
National Opioid Settlement
Regulatory settlement
2024
Specialty Alliance MSO Rollup
Acquisition / roll-up