Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐ No ☑
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☑
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☑ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files) Yes ☑ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer
☑
Accelerated filer
☐
Non-accelerated filer
☐
Smaller reporting company
☐
Emerging growth company
☐
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management's assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☑
If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☑
The aggregate market value of the voting common equity held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of June 30, 2023 (the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter), based on the per share closing sale price of $45.56 on that date and the assumption for the purpose of this computation only that all of the registrant’s directors and executive officers are affiliates, was approximately $23 billion. The number of shares of the registrant’s common stock, $1.00 par value, outstanding as of January 31, 2024 was 507,827,437.
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
Portions of the registrant’s definitive 2024 proxy statement for use in connection with its Annual Meeting of Stockholders expected to be held on May 7, 2024 are incorporated by reference into Part III of this report.
Baxter International Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides a broad portfolio of essential healthcare products, including acute and chronic dialysis therapies; sterile intravenous (IV) solutions; infusion systems and devices; parenteral nutrition therapies; inhaled anesthetics; generic injectable pharmaceuticals; surgical hemostat and sealant products, advanced surgical equipment; smart bed systems; patient monitoring and diagnostic technologies; and respiratory health devices. These products are used by hospitals, kidney dialysis centers, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, ambulatory surgery centers, doctors’ offices and patients at home under physician supervision. Our global footprint and the critical nature of our products and services play a key role in expanding access to healthcare in emerging and developed countries. As of December 31, 2023, we manufactured products in over 20 countries and sold them in over 100 countries.
Baxter International Inc. was incorporated under Delaware law in 1931. As used in this report, “Baxter International” means Baxter International Inc. and “we", "our” or "us" means Baxter International and its consolidated subsidiaries, unless the context otherwise requires.
Recent Strategic Actions
In mid-2022, our Board of Directors authorized a strategic review of our business portfolio, with the goal of increasing stockholder value. As part of that review process, we identified and evaluated a range of potential strategic actions, including opportunities for sales and other separation transactions. In January 2023, following the completion of that review, we announced the following planned strategic actions that are intended to enhance our operational effectiveness, accelerate innovation and drive additional stockholder value: (a) a proposed spinoff of our Kidney Care business into an independent publicly traded company focused on kidney care and organ support (the proposed spinoff), (b) our development of a new operating model to simplify our operations and better align our manufacturing and supply chain to our commercial activities and (c) our pursuit of strategic alternatives for our BioPharma Solutions (BPS) business.
Following these actions, we intend to emerge as a stronger hospital solutions and connected care company. As a more focused business, we expect to be better positioned to make strategic investments to accelerate our vision and to deliver differentiated value to our stakeholders with our unique combination of products, therapies and connected care platforms.
Proposed Separation of Kidney Care Business
We are working to complete the proposed separation of our Kidney Care business in the interest of establishing an independent company focused on kidney care and organ support. While we continue to evaluate all strategic options in the interest of maximizing stockholder value, we continue to progress towards our current target of July 2024 for completion of the proposed spinoff of this business. In both 2023 and 2022 we generated $4.45 billion of net sales from our Kidney Care segment, representing approximately 30% and 31%, respectively, of our consolidated net sales. We intend for the proposed spinoff to qualify as tax-free to Baxter and our stockholders for U.S. federal income tax purposes. The proposed spinoff is subject to the satisfaction of customary conditions, including final approval from our Board of Directors, the filing and effectiveness of a registration statement on Form 10, receipt of an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) ruling or related tax opinions from counsel, satisfactory completion of financing arrangements, consultations with works councils and other employee representative bodies and any necessary regulatory approvals.
There can be no guarantees that the proposed separation will be completed in the form of a spinoff or over the timeframe described above, or at all.
1
Implementation of New Operating Model and Resulting Segment Change
Our reportable segments were previously comprised of the following geographic segments related to our legacy Baxter business: Americas (North and South America), EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and APAC (Asia Pacific), and a global segment for our Hillrom business. In the third quarter of 2023, we completed the implementation of a new operating model intended to simplify and streamline our operations and better align our manufacturing and supply chain to our commercial activities. Under this new operating model, our business is comprised of four segments: Medical Products and Therapies, Healthcare Systems and Technologies (formerly referred to as our Hillrom segment), Pharmaceuticals and Kidney Care (which would become an independent publicly traded company following the completion of the proposed spinoff transaction). Our segment reporting was changed during the third quarter of 2023 to align with our new operating model and prior period segment disclosures have been revised to reflect the new segments.
Sale of BPS Business
On September 29, 2023, we completed the sale of our BPS business and received cash proceeds of $3.96 billion from that transaction. The financial position, results of operations and cash flows of our BPS business, including the $2.88 billion pre-tax gain ($2.59 billion net of tax) from the sale of that business and the related cash proceeds received, are reported as discontinued operations in the accompanying consolidated financial statements. We intend to use substantially all of the after-tax proceeds from this transaction to repay certain of our debt obligations, including $514 million of commercial paper borrowings and $2.28 billion of long-term debt that we repaid during the fourth quarter of 2023.
Acquisition of Hillrom
On December 13, 2021, we completed our acquisition of all outstanding equity interests of Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc. (Hillrom) for a purchase price of $10.48 billion. Including the assumption of Hillrom's outstanding debt obligations, the enterprise value of the transaction was $12.84 billion. Hillrom was a global medical technology leader and its products and services help enable earlier diagnosis and treatment, optimize surgical efficiency, and accelerate patient recovery while simplifying clinical communication and shifting care closer to home. Hillrom made those outcomes possible through digital and connected care solutions and collaboration tools, including smart bed systems, patient monitoring and diagnostic technologies, respiratory health devices, advanced equipment for the surgical space and more, delivering actionable, real-time insights at the point of care. In 2023 and 2022, our Healthcare Systems and Technologies segment generated net sales of $3.01 billion and $2.94 billion, respectively. During 2022, we also recognized $2.81 billion of goodwill impairments and $332 million of indefinite-lived intangible asset impairments related to goodwill and trade name intangible assets that arose from the Hillrom acquisition. See Notes 3, 5, 6 and 18 in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information about the Hillrom acquisition, goodwill and intangible asset impairments, Hillrom acquisition financing arrangements and the Healthcare Systems and Technologies segment results, respectively.
Business Segments and Products
We currently manage our global operations based on four segments: Medical Products and Therapies, Healthcare Systems and Technologies, Pharmaceuticals and Kidney Care.
The Medical Products and Therapies segment includes sales of our sterile IV solutions, infusion systems, administration sets, parenteral nutrition therapies and surgical hemostat, sealant and adhesion prevention products. The Healthcare Systems and Technologies segment includes sales of our connected care solutions and collaboration tools, including smart bed systems, patient monitoring systems and diagnostic technologies, respiratory health devices and advanced equipment for the surgical space, including surgical video technologies, precision positioning devices and other accessories. The Pharmaceuticals segment includes sales of specialty injectable pharmaceuticals, inhaled anesthesia and drug compounding. The Kidney Care segment includes sales of chronic and acute dialysis therapies and services, including peritoneal dialysis (PD), hemodialysis (HD), continuous renal replacement therapies (CRRT) and other organ support therapies.
For financial information about our segments, see Note 18 in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
2
Business Strategy
Our business strategy is focused on driving sustainable growth and innovation aligned with our mission to save and sustain lives and our vision to transform healthcare with a customer focus to help improve patient outcomes, enhance workflow efficiency, and enable cost-effective care. Our diversified and broad portfolio of medical products that treat acute or chronic conditions and our global presence are core components of our strategy as we work to achieve these objectives. We are focused on four strategic pillars as part of our pursuit of industry leading performance: innovation; market expansion; operational efficiency; and capital allocation.
Innovation
Our innovation strategy, which encompasses both organic and inorganic initiatives, is focused on accelerating our sales growth through the introduction of new connected care and core therapies offerings. Connected care offerings include devices or software that can connect, communicate and/or analyze data to help transform healthcare and improve patient outcomes. Through our acquisition of Hillrom, we are continuing to build out our connected care portfolio offerings, as its product portfolio includes digital and connected care solutions and collaboration tools such as smart bed systems, patient monitoring and diagnostic technologies, respiratory health devices and advanced equipment for the surgical space. Our core therapies product offerings include pharmaceuticals and consumable medical products designed to address essential patient and provider needs across the continuum of care.
As part of this strategy, we are prioritizing investments that drive innovation in product areas where we believe we have compelling opportunities to better serve patients and healthcare professionals, particularly in markets with higher growth rates. We are working to accelerate the pace at which we bring these advances to market to support our future growth. We are in the midst of launching several new products, geographic expansions and line extensions in areas such as smart pump technology, hospital pharmaceuticals and nutritionals, surgical sealants, smart beds, respiratory vests, chronic and acute renal care and more. These comprise a mix of entirely new product offerings and meaningful improvements to existing technologies.
Market Expansion
The market expansion component of our strategy includes expanding our portfolio geographically, broadening our portfolio through channel expansion and increasing utilization of our products and therapies through market development activities. These initiatives include using Baxter’s geographic footprint to introduce the Healthcare Systems and Technologies product portfolio into new markets, as well as expanding value-added services, increasing adoption of underpenetrated therapies and providing education and advocacy to improve access to our products.
Operational Excellence
As discussed above under “Recent Strategic Actions,” we recently implemented a new operating model intended to simplify and streamline our operations and better align our manufacturing and supply chain to our commercial activities. Going forward we expect to be a more integrated and nimble organization that can respond more effectively to changes in the macroeconomic environment while enhancing our ability to drive innovation in our product portfolio. We also continue to focus on increasing efficiencies through automation and digitization and delivering on the targeted cost synergies expected to be achieved from our acquisition of Hillrom. We intend to continue to actively manage our cost structure and strive to commit resources to the highest value uses. Such high value activities include supporting innovation, building out the portfolio, expanding patient access and accelerating growth for our stockholders.
Maintaining Disciplined and Balanced Capital Allocation
Subject to market conditions and our investment grade targets, our capital allocation strategies currently include the following:
•debt repayments to support our deleveraging commitments;
•active portfolio management through the identification of attractive acquisition and divestiture transactions, including the recent divestiture of our BPS business and the proposed Kidney Care separation; and
3
•returning capital to stockholders through dividends, while balancing any returns with other strategic actions we take. We also intend to reinstate share repurchases over the longer term.
We paid down $2.80 billion of debt during 2023, using proceeds from the sale of our BPS business, and we are committed to retaining our investment grade rating, including taking actions toward achieving a 2.75x net leverage target in 2025. During this deleveraging period, we currently intend to continue paying a dividend, not make any share repurchases and be highly selective with respect to any potential acquisitions.
Sales and Distribution
We have our own direct sales force and also make sales to and through independent distributors, drug wholesalers acting as sales agents and specialty pharmacy or other alternate site providers. In the United States, third parties, such as Cardinal Health, Inc., warehouse and ship a significant portion of our products through their distribution centers. These centers are generally stocked with adequate inventories to facilitate prompt customer service. Sales and distribution methods include frequent contact by sales and customer service representatives, automated communications via various electronic purchasing systems, circulation of catalogs and merchandising bulletins, direct-mail campaigns, trade publication presence and advertising.
Sales are made and products are distributed on a direct basis or through independent distributors or sales agents in more than 100 countries as of December 31, 2023.
International Operations
The majority of our revenues are generated outside of the United States and geographic expansion remains a key component of our strategy, particularly with respect to our Healthcare Systems and Technologies business. Our international presence includes operations in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Canada. We are subject to certain risks inherent in conducting business outside the United States. For more information on these risks, see the information under the captions “Risks Relating to Our Business—We are subject to risks associated with doing business globally” and “—Changes in foreign currency exchange rates and interest rates have, and may in the future have, an adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition, cash flows and liquidity” in Item 1A. Risk Factors of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
For financial information about our foreign and domestic revenues and segment information, see Note 18, in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. For more information regarding foreign currency exchange risk, refer to the discussion under the caption entitled “Financial Instrument Market Risk” in Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Contractual Arrangements
Our products are sold through contracts with customers, both within and outside the United States. Some of these contracts have terms of more than one year and place limits on our ability to increase prices. In the case of hospitals, governments and other facilities, these contracts may specify minimum quantities of a particular product or categories of products to be purchased by the customer.
In keeping with the increased emphasis on cost-effectiveness in healthcare delivery, many hospitals and other customers of medical products in the United States have joined group purchasing organizations (GPOs), or formed integrated delivery networks (IDNs), to enhance purchasing power. GPOs and IDNs negotiate pricing arrangements with manufacturers and distributors and the negotiated prices are made available to members. We have purchasing agreements with several of the major GPOs in the United States, which are subject to renewal from time to time. GPOs may have agreements with more than one supplier for certain products. Accordingly, in these cases, we face competition from other suppliers even where a customer is a member of a GPO under contract with us, which may constrain our ability to secure negotiated price increases. Purchasing power is similarly consolidated in many other countries. For example, public contracting authorities often act as the purchasing entities for the hospitals and other customers of medical products in their region and many hospitals and other customers have joined joint procurement entities and buying consortia. The result is that demand for healthcare products is increasingly concentrated across our markets globally. Additionally, our contractual pricing arrangements with GPOs, IDNs and public contracting authorities limit our ability to increase prices in order to offset raw materials or component price increases or otherwise.
4
Raw Materials and Component Parts
Raw materials and component parts essential to our business are purchased from numerous suppliers worldwide in the ordinary course of business. While many of these materials are generally available, we have experienced and may in the future experience shortages of supply. Additionally, certain of these materials are secured from single source suppliers or on a spot basis and not pursuant to a contractual arrangement. In recent periods, we have experienced increased costs and shortages of raw materials and component parts (including resins and electromechanical devices), which has had a negative impact on our profit margins and on our sales for certain product categories, due to our inability to fully satisfy demand.
In an effort to manage risk associated with raw materials and component supply, we work closely with our suppliers to help ensure availability and continuity of supply while maintaining high quality and reliability. We also seek to develop new and alternative sources of supply where beneficial to our overall raw materials procurement strategy. Refer to Item 1A. Risk Factors of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further information regarding risks related to the supply chain, raw materials and component parts (including with respect to the qualification of any new or alternative supplier).
We are not always able to recover cost increases for raw materials and component parts through customer pricing due to contractual limits, where applicable, and market forces. For example, during 2022 and 2023, our profit margins were adversely impacted because we were unable to fully offset all related cost increases resulting from the high inflationary environment through customer pricing adjustments or other pricing actions. We seek to utilize long-term supply contracts with some suppliers to help maintain continuity of supply and manage the risk of price increases. Our ability to do so in the face of limited supply of certain raw materials and component parts and inflationary environment may be limited.
Competition and Healthcare Cost Containment
Our businesses benefit from a number of competitive advantages, including the breadth and depth of our product offerings and our strong relationships with customers, including hospitals and clinics, GPOs, IDNs, physicians and patients, many of whom self-administer home-based therapies that we supply. We also benefit from efficiencies and cost advantages resulting from shared manufacturing facilities and the technological advantages of our products.
Although no single company competes with us in all of our businesses, we face substantial competition in each of our segments from international and domestic healthcare, medical products and pharmaceutical companies and providers of all sizes, and these competitors often differ across our businesses. In addition, global and regional competitors continue to expand their manufacturing capacity and sales and marketing channels. We believe customer purchasing decisions are primarily focused on cost-effectiveness, price, service, product performance and technological innovation. There has been consolidation in our customer base and by our competitors, which continues to result in pricing and market pressures.
Global efforts toward healthcare cost containment continue to exert pressure on product pricing. Governments around the world use various mechanisms to control healthcare expenditures, such as price controls, the formation of public contracting authorities, product formularies (lists of recommended or approved products), and competitive tenders which require the submission of a bid to sell products. Sales of our products are dependent, in part, on the availability of reimbursement by government agencies and healthcare programs, as well as insurance companies and other private payers. In the United States, the federal government and many states have adopted or proposed initiatives relating to Medicaid and other health programs that may limit reimbursement or increase rebates that we and other providers are required to pay to the state. In addition to government regulation, managed care organizations in the United States, which include medical insurance companies, medical plan administrators, health-maintenance organizations, hospital and physician alliances and pharmacy benefit managers, continue to put pressure on the price and usage of healthcare products. Managed care organizations seek to contain healthcare expenditures, and their purchasing strength has been increasing due to their consolidation into fewer, larger organizations and a growing number of enrolled patients. We face similar issues outside of the United States. In Europe and Latin America, for example, the government provides healthcare at low cost to patients, and controls its expenditures by purchasing products through public tenders, collective purchasing, regulating prices, setting reference prices in public tenders or limiting reimbursement or patient access to certain products. Additionally, China has been implementing volume-based procurement policies and a series of centralized reforms on both a national and regional basis which have resulted in significant price cuts for pharmaceuticals and medical consumables. For further discussion, refer to Item 1A. Risk Factors of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
5
Intellectual Property
Patents and other proprietary rights are essential to our business. We rely on patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, know-how and confidentiality agreements to develop, maintain and strengthen our competitive position. We own numerous patents and trademarks throughout the world and have entered into license arrangements relating to various third-party patents and technologies. Products manufactured by us are sold primarily under our own trademarks and trade names. Some products distributed by us are sold under our trade names, while others are sold under trade names owned by our suppliers or partners. Trade secret protection of unpatented confidential and proprietary information is also important to us. We maintain certain details about our processes, products and technology as trade secrets and generally require employees, consultants, and business partners to enter into confidentiality agreements. These agreements may be breached and we may not have adequate remedies for any breach. In addition, our trade secrets may otherwise become known or be independently discovered by competitors. To the extent that our employees, consultants, and business partners use intellectual property owned by others in their work for us, disputes may arise as to the rights in related or resulting know-how and inventions.
Our policy is to protect our products and technology through patents and trademarks on a worldwide basis. This protection is sought in a manner that balances the cost of such protection against obtaining the greatest value for us. We also recognize the need to promote the enforcement of our patents and trademarks and take commercially reasonable steps to enforce our patents and trademarks around the world against potential infringers, including judicial or administrative action where appropriate.
We operate in an industry susceptible to significant patent litigation. At any given time, we are involved as either a plaintiff or defendant in a number of patent infringement and other intellectual property-related actions. Such litigation can result in significant royalty or other payments or result in injunctions that can prevent the sale of products. For more information on patent and other litigation, see Note 8 in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Research and Development
We believe our investment in research and development (R&D), consistent with our portfolio optimization and capital allocation strategies, will help fuel our future growth and our ability to remain competitive. Accordingly, we continue to focus our investment on select R&D programs to enhance future growth through clinical differentiation. Expenditures for our R&D activities were $667 million in 2023, $602 million in 2022, and $531 million in 2021. These expenditures include costs associated with R&D activities performed at our R&D centers located around the world, which include facilities in Belgium, China, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Sweden and the United States, as well as in-licensing, milestone and reimbursement payments made to partners for R&D work performed at non-Baxter locations. As discussed above in under "Recent Strategic Actions," we have recently implemented a new operating model intended to simplify and streamline our operations, including with respect to our R&D activities. We are also working to create a more resilient supply chain and better align our manufacturing footprint and supply chain to our commercial activities. These activities may result in the consolidation of one or more R&D facilities.
For more information on our R&D activities, refer to the discussion under the caption entitled “Strategic Objectives” in Item 7. Management's Discussion of Analysis and Financial Condition and Results of Operations of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Quality Management
Our continued success depends upon the quality of our products. Quality management plays an essential role in determining and meeting customer requirements, helping to prevent defects, facilitating continuing improvement of our processes, products and services, and helping to assure the safety and efficacy of our products. Our quality system enables the design, development, manufacturing, packaging, sterilization, handling, distribution and labeling of our products to help ensure that they conform to customer requirements. In order to consistently improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our quality system, various measurement, monitoring and analysis methods, such as management reviews and internal, external and vendor audits, are employed at local and central levels.
Each product that we market is required to meet specific quality standards, both in packaging and in product integrity and quality. If any of those is determined to be compromised at any time, we endeavor to take corrective and preventive actions designed to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and to meet customer expectations. For more information on corrective actions taken by us, refer to the discussion under the caption
6
entitled “Certain Regulatory Matters” in Item 7. Management's Discussion of Analysis and Financial Condition and Results of Operations of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Corporate Responsibility
Driven by our mission to save and sustain lives, Baxter's corporate responsibility strategy focuses on addressing the environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues that affect our patients, customers, employees, communities and other stakeholders worldwide. Our corporate responsibility approach supports our business priorities to achieve top quartile results relative to industry peers and other comparators across four dimensions: patient safety and quality, growth through innovation, best place to work and industry-leading performance. Advancing our corporate responsibility goals contributes to business, social and economic value, including attraction and retention of employees, enhanced operational efficiency and implementation of enterprise risk management strategies, among others.
In 2021, we launched our 2030 Corporate Responsibility Commitment featuring ten strategic goals for focused action. Our Commitment is anchored by three pillars - Empower Our Patients, Protect Our Planet and Champion Our People and Communities - and bolstered by our approach to the foundational principles of Ethics and Compliance, Human Rights, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Privacy and Data Protection. The 2030 Corporate Responsibility Commitment and Goals highlight Baxter's corporate responsibility focus and help to further advance our ESG performance. Our progress against these goals is published annually in our Corporate Responsibility Report which is available on our website under "Our Story-Corporate Responsibility." The Corporate Responsibility Report is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K or any other document filed with the SEC.
Government Regulation
As a medical products company, our operations and many of the products manufactured or sold by us are subject to extensive regulation by numerous government agencies, both within and outside the United States. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in Europe, the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) in China and other government agencies, inside and outside of the United States, administer requirements covering the testing, safety, effectiveness, manufacturing, labeling, promotion and advertising, distribution and post-market surveillance of our products. We must obtain specific approval from FDA and non-U.S. regulatory authorities before we can market and sell most of our products in a particular country. Even after we obtain regulatory approval to market a product, the product and our manufacturing processes and quality systems are subject to continued review by FDA and other regulatory authorities globally, including additional 510(k) and other regulatory submissions, and approvals or the time needed to secure approvals are not certain. State agencies in the United States also regulate our facilities, operations, employees, products and services within their respective states. We, along with our facilities, are subject to periodic inspections and possible administrative and legal actions by FDA and other regulatory agencies inside and outside the United States. Such actions may include warning letters, product recalls or seizures, monetary sanctions, injunctions to halt the manufacture and distribution of products, civil or criminal sanctions, refusal of a government to grant approvals or licenses, restrictions on operations or withdrawal of existing approvals and licenses. As situations require, we take steps to ensure the safety and efficacy of our products, such as removing products from the market that are found not to meet applicable requirements and improving the effectiveness of quality systems. For more information on compliance actions taken by us, refer to the discussion under the caption entitled “Certain Regulatory Matters” in Item 7. Management's Discussion of Analysis and Financial Condition and Results of Operations of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
We are also subject to various laws inside and outside the United States concerning our relationships with healthcare professionals and government officials, price reporting and regulation, the promotion, sales and marketing of our products and services, the importation and exportation of products, the operation of our facilities and the distribution of products. In the United States, we are subject to the oversight of FDA, Office of the Inspector General within the Department of Health and Human Services (OIG), the Center for Medicare/Medicaid Services (CMS), the Department of Justice (DOJ), Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Defense and Customs and Border Protection in addition to others. We supply products and services to healthcare providers that are reimbursed by federally funded programs such as Medicare. As a result, our activities are subject to regulation by CMS and enforcement by OIG and DOJ. In each jurisdiction outside the United States, our activities are subject to regulation by government agencies including the EMA in Europe, CFDA in China and other agencies in other jurisdictions. Many of the agencies enforcing these laws have increased their enforcement activities with respect to
7
healthcare companies in recent years. These actions appear to be part of a general trend toward increased enforcement activity globally.
Our operations involve the use of substances regulated under environmental laws, primarily in manufacturing and sterilization processes. Our environmental policies require compliance with all applicable environmental regulations and contemplate, among other things, appropriate capital expenditures for environmental protection. For example, we made $6 million and $33 million of capital expenditures in 2022 and 2021, respectively, related to a new ethylene oxide emissions control system at our Mountain Home, Arkansas facility that was substantially completed in 2022.
Human Capital Management
As of December 31, 2023, we employed approximately 60,000 people globally, with approximately 41,000 employees in the United States and approximately 19,000 employees outside of the United States. Our employees set the foundation for our ability to achieve our strategic objectives. They contribute to our success and are instrumental in driving operational execution and our ability to deliver strong financial performance, advancing innovation and maintaining a strong quality and compliance program across our organization.
The success and growth of our business depends in large part on our ability to attract, retain and develop a diverse population of talented and high-performing employees at all levels of our organization, including the individuals who comprise our global workforce as well as executive officers and other key personnel. To succeed in a competitive labor market, we have developed recruitment and retention strategies, objectives and measures that we focus on as part of the overall management of our business. These strategies, objectives and measures form our human capital management framework and are advanced through the following programs, policies and initiatives:
•Competitive Pay and Benefits. Our compensation programs are designed to align the compensation of our employees with our performance and to provide the proper incentives to attract, retain and motivate employees to achieve superior results. The structure of our compensation programs balances incentive earnings for both short-term and long-term performance.
•Activating Change Today. Building on the success of our nine business resource groups (BRGs), one such BRG, Baxter’s Black Alliance, joined forces with colleagues across the company to introduce Activating Change Today (ACT), a multidimensional program to advance inclusion and racial justice.ACT is focused on driving results across four key areas – Workforce, Workplace, Community and Marketplace – encompassing employees, external stakeholders and the markets and communities we serve.
•Health and Safety. Health and safety are firmly rooted across our global footprint. We aim for a zero-harm workplace and prioritize the elimination of risks and incident precursors to drive improvement. In 2023, Baxter focused on employee engagement, hazard identification and accelerated technology deployment to better understand and address top health and safety risk areas. We have continued to mobilize our identification program for our operational workforce, in concert with a centralized corrective action tracking tool. These improvements have enabled us to implement predictive analytics, support ergonomic evaluations and introduce active safety control technology for improved operation of our powered industrial vehicles.
•Recruitment, Training and Development. We use recruitment vehicles to attract diverse talent to our organization and we prioritize learning opportunities that foster a growth mindset. Our formal offerings include a tuition reimbursement program, an e-learning platform known as BaxU and virtual workshops that support our culture, strategy and the development of crucial skills. To assess the impact of the investments we make in our people, and to help us consistently improve our human resources programs, we regularly conduct anonymous surveys of our global workforce to seek feedback on a variety of topics including confidence in our leadership, competitiveness of our compensation and benefits packages, career growth opportunities and improvements on how we can make our company an employer of choice. Administered and analyzed by an independent third-party, the survey results are reviewed by our senior leaders, which include our executive officers. Summaries of select surveys are also provided to our Board of Directors. The results of this engagement survey are also shared with individual managers, who are then tasked with taking action based on their employees’ anonymous feedback.
Available Information
We make available free of charge on our website at www.baxter.com our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (Exchange Act), as soon as
8
reasonably practicable after electronically filing or furnishing such material with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These reports are also available free of charge via EDGAR through the Securities and Exchange Commission website (www.sec.gov). In addition, our Corporate Governance Guidelines, Code of Conduct, and the charters for the committees of our Board of Directors are available on our website at www.baxter.com under “Our Story — Our Governance.” All the foregoing materials will be made available to stockholders in print upon request by writing to: Corporate Secretary, Baxter International Inc., One Baxter Parkway, Deerfield, Illinois 60015. Information contained on our website shall not be deemed incorporated into, or to be a part of, this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Item 1A. Risk Factors.
In addition to the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, stockholders or prospective investors should carefully consider the following risk factors for a description of the principal risks that we face. If any of the events described below occurs, our business, results of operations, financial condition, cash flows, future growth prospects and stock price could suffer. Further, other unknown or unpredictable factors could also have material adverse effects on our future results.
Risk Factors Summary
This summary of risks below is intended to provide an overview of the risks we face and should not be considered a substitute for the more detailed risk factors discussed immediately following this summary.
Risks Relating to Our Strategic Actions
•The proposed spinoff of our Kidney Care business may not be completed on the terms, structure or timeline we have announced, if at all.
•We are exposed to new risks as a result of the proposed spinoff and other strategic actions we are undertaking.
•We may continue to experience difficulties with our integration of Hillrom or fail to realize the anticipated benefits of the Hillrom acquisition.
•If our business strategy and development activities are unsuccessful, our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows could be adversely affected.
Risks Relating to Our Financial Performance and Our Common Stock
•Global economic conditions, including inflation and supply chain disruptions, have adversely affected, and could continue to adversely affect, our operations.
•Our operating results and financial condition have, and may in the future, fluctuate.
•We may not achieve our financial goals.
•We incurred a substantial amount of debt in connection with the Hillrom acquisition, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
•Changes in foreign currency exchange rates and interest rates have, and may in the future have, an adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition, cash flows and liquidity.
•Our common stock price has fluctuated significantly and may continue to do so.
•Future material impairments in the value of our goodwill, intangible assets and other long-lived assets, would negatively affect our operating results.
Other Risks Relating to Our Business
•If we are unable to successfully introduce or monetize new and existing products or services, or fail to keep pace with changing consumer preferences and needs or advances in technology, our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows could be adversely affected.
•Issues with product quality could, among other things, have an adverse effect on our business or cause a loss of customer confidence in us or our products.
9
•There is substantial competition in the product markets in which we operate and the risk of declining demand and pricing pressures could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
•Pandemics and other public health emergencies, or the fear thereof, have had, and may in the future have, a material adverse effect on our business.
•If we fail to attract, develop, retain and engage key employees, our business may suffer.
Risks Relating to Our Business Operations
•Segments of our business are significantly dependent on major contracts with GPOs, IDNs, and certain other distributors and purchasers.
•We may not be successful in achieving expected operating efficiencies and sustaining or improving operating expense reductions, and might experience business disruptions and adverse tax consequences associated with restructuring, realignment and cost reduction activities.
•If we are unable to obtain sufficient components or raw materials on a timely basis or for a cost-effective price or if we experience other manufacturing, sterilization, supply or distribution difficulties, our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows may be adversely affected.
•Climate change, or legal, regulatory or market measures to address climate change, could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
•Breaches and breakdowns affecting our information technology systems or protected information could have a material adverse effect on us.
•We are subject to risks associated with doing business globally.
•A portion of our workforce is unionized, and we could face labor disruptions that would interfere with our operations.
Risks Relating to Legal and Regulatory Matters
•We are subject to a number of laws and regulations, and we are susceptible to a changing regulatory environment.
•Increasing regulatory focus on privacy and cybersecurity issues and expanding laws could impact our business and expose us to increased liability.
•If reimbursement or other payment for our current or future products is reduced or modified in the United States or in foreign countries or there are changes to policies with respect to pricing, taxation or rebates, our business could suffer.
•We could be subject to fines or damages and possible exclusion from participation in federal or state healthcare programs if we fail to comply with the laws and regulations applicable to our business.
•If we are unable to protect or enforce our patents or other proprietary rights, or if we become subject to claims or litigation alleging infringement of the patents or other proprietary rights of others, our competitiveness and business prospects may be materially damaged.
•Changes in tax laws or exposure to additional income tax liabilities may have a negative impact on our operating results.
•We are party to a number of pending lawsuits and other disputes which may have an adverse impact on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
•Our Amended and Restated By-Laws designate certain courts in the State of Delaware or the federal district courts of the United States will be the sole and exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders.
10
Risks Relating to Our Strategic Actions
The proposed spinoff of our Kidney Care business may not be completed on the terms, structure or timeline we have announced, if at all.
In January 2023, we announced a series of strategic actions, including, among other things, the proposed spinoff of our Kidney Care business into an independent company (the proposed spinoff) and plans to implement a simplified operating model and manufacturing footprint. While we have completed implementation of the new operating model, we may encounter challenges to executing the proposed spinoff on the terms, structure and within the timeframe we have announced, or at all. The proposed spinoff will be subject to the satisfaction of a number of customary conditions, including final approval from Baxter’s Board of Directors. The failure to satisfy any of the required conditions could delay the completion of the proposed spinoff for a significant period of time or prevent it from occurring at all. Additionally, the proposed spinoff is complex in nature, and unanticipated developments or changes, including disruptions in general market conditions, changes in law, challenges or complexities in executing the spinoff of the two businesses or developments of viable medical, pharmacological and technological advances (as further discussed in “Other Risks Relating to Our Business If we are unable to successfully introduce or monetize new and existing products or services, or fail to keep pace with changing consumer preferences and needs or advances in technology, our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows could be adversely affected”) may affect our ability to complete the proposed spinoff on the terms or on the timeline we have announced, or at all. The terms and conditions of the required regulatory authorizations and consents that are granted, if any, may also impose requirements, limitations or costs, or place restrictions on the conduct of the independent companies or impact our ability to complete the proposed spinoff on the terms or timeline we have announced, or at all.
Although we intend for the proposed spinoff to be tax-free to Baxter’s stockholders for U.S. federal income tax purposes, we have initiated the preparatory restructuring, which has generated, and we expect to continue to generate, non-U.S. tax liabilities and may also generate potential impairments of deferred tax assets. Moreover, there can be no assurance that the proposed spinoff will qualify as tax-free for U.S. federal income tax purposes. The IRS ruling and tax opinion mentioned above will be based upon various factual representations and assumptions, as well as certain undertakings made by Baxter and the new independent company. If any of these factual representations or assumptions are, or become, untrue or incomplete in any material respect, an undertaking is not complied with, or the facts upon which the opinion or ruling are based are materially different from the actual facts relating to the proposed spinoff, reliance on the opinion or ruling may be jeopardized. If the proposed spinoff were ultimately determined to be taxable for U.S. federal income tax purposes, we would incur a significant tax liability, while the distributions to Baxter’s stockholders would become taxable and the new company could incur income tax liabilities as well.
We are exposed to new risks as a result of the proposed spinoff and other strategic actions we are undertaking. Our strategic actions may not achieve their anticipated benefits,or our costs may exceed our estimates.
Our businesses have begun to face, and will continue to face, material challenges in connection with the proposed spinoff and the other strategic actions we are undertaking (includingthe recent implementation of a simplified operating model and the ongoing simplification of our manufacturing footprint). These challenges include, without limitation, the diversion of management’s attention from ongoing business concerns; appropriately allocating assets and liabilities among the companies to be separated in the proposed spinoff, particularly given the complex nature of the proposed spinoff; attracting, retaining and motivating key management and other employees; retaining existing, or attracting new, business and operational relationships, including with customers, suppliers, employees and other counterparties; maintaining our relationships with regulators; assigning customer contracts and intellectual property to each of the businesses; and potential negative reactions from the financial markets. In particular, in the last few years, we have undertaken other strategic and business transformation actions (including the recent divestiture of our BPS business, the acquisition of Hillrom and cost reduction initiatives) that have entailed changes across our organizational structure, senior leadership, culture, functional alignment, outsourcing and other areas. This poses risks in the form of personnel capacity constraints and institutional knowledge loss that has led to, and could in the future lead to, missed performance or financial targets and harm to our reputation, and these risks are heightened with the additional interdependent actions that will be needed to complete the proposed spinoff and other strategic actions we are currently implementing and pursing or which we may pursue in the future.
We have incurred, and will continue to incur, significant expenses in connection with the proposed spinoff and other strategic actions we are undertaking. These expenses have been significant, and may continue to grow, and may not yield a discernible benefit if the actions are not completed on schedule or at all. In addition, the anticipated
11
benefits of these actions are based on a number of assumptions, some of which may prove incorrect, and we cannot predict with certainty when the expected benefits will occur, or the extent to which they will be achieved. As a result, even if the proposed spinoff or other strategic actions are completed, they may not achieve some or all of the anticipated strategic, financial, operational or other benefits in the expected timeframe, or at all, which could adversely impact our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
Further, even if the proposed spinoff is completed, we cannot assure you that each separate company will be successful. Completion of the proposed spinoff will result in independent companies that are smaller, less diversified companies, with more limited businesses concentrated in their respective industries than Baxter. As a result, each company will be more vulnerable to changing market conditions, which could have a material adverse effect on its business, results of operations, financial conditions and cash flows. In addition, the diversification of revenues, costs and cash flows will diminish, such that each company’s results of operations, cash flows, working capital, effective tax rate and financing requirements may be subject to increased volatility, and each company’s ability to fund capital expenditures and investments, pay dividends and meet debt obligations and other liabilities may be diminished. Following completion of the proposed spinoff, each company will also incur one-time and ongoing costs, including the costs of operating as independent companies, that the separated businesses will no longer be able to share. In addition, until the market has fully analyzed the values of the separate companies, the price of our common stock and common stock of the new company may experience volatility. Our common stock or the common stock of the new company may not match some holders’ investment strategies or meet minimum criteria for inclusion in stock market indices or portfolios, which could cause certain investors to sell their shares, which could in turn lead to declines in the trading price of such stock. As a result of any of the foregoing or other risks, the combined value of the common stock of the two publicly traded companies may be less than what the value of our common stock would have been absent the proposed spinoff.
We may continue to experience difficulties with our integration of Hillrom or fail to realize the anticipated benefits of the Hillrom acquisition.
During 2021, we completed the acquisition of Hillrom. The success of this acquisition depends on, among other things, our ability to integrate Hillrom in a manner that facilitates growth opportunities, realizes anticipated cost and revenue synergies and achieves certain previously communicated net leverage targets without adversely affecting current revenues and investments in future growth. If we are not able to successfully achieve these objectives, the anticipated benefits of the Hillrom acquisition may not be realized fully or at all or may take longer to realize than expected.
There is a significant degree of difficulty and management distraction inherent in the process of integrating an acquisition. The integration of Hillrom into our operations is complex and time-consuming and certain aspects have taken longer than originally anticipated and have required more effort than was originally planned. Challenges associated with our integration efforts are also heightened due to the other strategic actions we are pursuing. This has resulted in, and may continue to result in, additional expenses and other difficulties as we work to complete our ongoing strategic initiatives, including challenges consolidating certain operations and functions (including regulatory and other corporate functions), integrating technologies (including differing information technology systems and processes), organizations, procedures, policies and operations, addressing differences in the business cultures of the two companies, and retaining key personnel, any of which could adversely affect our ability to achieve the anticipated benefits of the acquisition. The integration process and other disruptions resulting from the Hillrom acquisition and our ongoing strategic initiatives also disrupt our ongoing businesses and could cause inconsistencies in standards, controls, procedures and policies that adversely affect our relationships with market participants, employees, regulators and others with whom we have business or other dealings. Any failure to successfully or cost-effectively integrate Hillrom could have a material adverse effect on our business and cause reputational harm.
If our business strategy and development activities are unsuccessful, our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows could be adversely affected.
While we remain committed to deleveraging, we expect to engage in significant business development activities over the longer term (once we have satisfied our net leverage targets), including evaluating acquisitions, joint development opportunities, technology licensing arrangements and other opportunities, such as potential divestitures and targeted market exits as we look to optimize our product portfolio and improve our operating margins. These activities may result in substantial investment of our resources (including resources currently focused on our ongoing strategic initiatives, such as the proposed spinoff). Our success developing products, expanding into new markets and optimizing our market presence from such activities will depend on a number of factors, including our ability to find suitable opportunities or partners for acquisition, investment, alliance or
12
divestiture; competition from other companies in the industries in which we operate that are seeking similar opportunities; whether we are able to complete an acquisition, investment, alliance or divestiture on terms that are satisfactory to us or at all; the strength of the underlying technology and products of any of the other parties involved in a transaction, as well as their ability to execute their business strategies; any intellectual property and litigation related to any other party’s products or technology; and our ability to successfully integrate the acquired company, business, product, technology or research into our existing operations (or to divest such company, business, product, technology or research from our existing operations), including the ability to adequately fund acquired in-process R&D projects and to maintain adequate controls over the combined operations. Certain of these activities are subject to antitrust and competition laws, which could impact our ability to pursue strategic transactions and could result in mandated divestitures in the context of proposed acquisitions. Additionally, certain divestitures could result in negative market or regulatory reactions. If we are unsuccessful in our business development activities, we may not realize the intended benefits of such activities, including that acquisition and integration or divestiture costs may be greater than expected or the possibility that the expected return on investment, synergies and accretion will not be realized or will not be realized within the expected timeframes. For more information, see Note 3 in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Risks Relating to Our Financial Performance and Our Common Stock
Global economic conditions, including inflation and supply chain disruptions, have adversely affected, and could continue to adversely affect, our operations.
General global economic downturns and macroeconomic trends, including heightened inflation, capital markets volatility, interest rate and currency rate fluctuations, and economic slowdown or recession, have resulted in, and may continue to result in, unfavorable conditions that negatively affect demand for our products and exacerbate other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section that affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. Both domestic and international markets have been experiencing significant inflationary pressures in recent years and inflation rates in the U.S., as well as in other countries in which we operate, are currently expected to continue at elevated levels for the near term. In addition, the Federal Reserve in the U.S. and other central banks in various countries have raised, and may again raise, interest rates in response to concerns about inflation, which, coupled with reduced government spending and volatility in financial markets, has had, and may continue to have, the effect of further increasing economic uncertainty and heightening these risks. Interest rate increases or other government actions taken to reduce inflation have resulted in, and may continue to result in, recessionary pressures in many parts of the world. Furthermore, currency exchange rates have been especially volatile in the recent past, and these currency fluctuations have affected, and may continue to affect, the reported value of our assets and liabilities, as well as our cash flows.
We have experienced significant challenges to our global supply chain in recent periods, including production delays and interruptions, increased costs and shortages of raw materials and component parts (including resins and electromechanical devices), heightened inventory levels to reduce the risk of patient supply disruption and higher transportation and labor costs, resulting from COVID-19 and other exogenous factors including significant weather events, elevated inflation levels, disruptions to certain ports of call around the world, the war in Ukraine, the conflict in the Middle East (including recent attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea), tensions between China and Taiwan and other geopolitical events. Due to the nature of our products, which include dense consumable medical products such as IV fluids, and the geographic locations of our manufacturing, storage and distribution facilities, which often require us to transport our products long distancesand which are being further consolidated in anticipation of the proposed spinoff, we may be more susceptible to increases in freight costs and other supply chain challenges than certain of our industry peers. We expect to experience some of these and other challenges related to our supply chain in future periods. These challenges, including the unavailability of certain raw materials and component parts, have also had a negative impact on our sales for certain product categories due to our inability to fully satisfy demand and may continue to have a negative impact on our sales in the future. They have also made it increasingly difficult to model accurately our short-term and long-term financial objectives and may continue to do so in the future.
Our ability to generate cash flows from operations has been affected, and could continue to be affected, if there is a material decline in the demand for our products or, in the solvency or planned capital expenditures of our customers or suppliers, or if there is deterioration in our key financial ratios or credit ratings. Current or worsening economic conditions may impact the ability of our customers (including governments) to pay for our products and services and the amount spent on healthcare generally, which could result in decreased demand for our products and services, a decline in cash flows, longer sales cycles, increased inventory levels, slower adoption of new technologies and increased price competition. These conditions may also adversely affect certain of our suppliers, which could disrupt our ability to produce products. We continue to do business with foreign governments in certain countries that have
13
experienced deterioration in credit and economic conditions. While global economic conditions to date have not significantly impacted our ability to collect receivables, liquidity issues in certain countries have resulted, and may continue to result, in delays in the collection of receivables and credit losses and may also impact the stability of the U.S. Dollar, Euro, Renminbi or other currencies.
Our operating results and financial condition have, and may in the future, fluctuate.
Our operating results and financial condition have, and may in the future, fluctuate from quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year for a number of reasons. Events, such as changes to our expectations, strategy or forecasts (including as a result of evolving global macroeconomic conditions and updated expectations regarding the timing of new regulatory approvals) or even a relatively small revenue shortfall or increase in supply chain or other costs which we are unable to offset have, and may in the future, cause financial results for a period to be below our expectations or projections. As a result, we believe that period-to-period comparisons of our results of operations are not necessarily meaningful, nor should they be relied upon as an indication of future performance. Our operating results and financial condition are also subject to fluctuation from all of the risks described throughout this section. These fluctuations may adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition and our stock price.
We may not achieve our financial goals.
We continue to evaluate and refine both our short-term and long-term financial objectives, including our stated commitment to achieve certain net leverage targets. Our ability to achieve these targets depends, in part, on our ability to realize the anticipated benefits of the Hillrom acquisition (and related cost and revenue synergy targets) while working to execute on our stated portfolio management and other ongoing strategic initiatives including the proposed spinoff. We may fail to achieve our targeted financial results if we are unsuccessful in implementing our strategies, our estimates or assumptions change or for any other reason. Our failure to achieve our financial goals could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
We incurred a substantial amount of debt in connection with the Hillrom acquisition, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
We incurred acquisition-related debt financing of $11.80 billion to fund the cash consideration for the Hillrom acquisition, refinance certain indebtedness of Hillrom and pay related fees and expenses. Our substantially increased indebtedness and higher debt-to-equity ratio following the acquisition has the effect, among other things, of reducing our flexibility to respond to changing business and economic conditions and has increased our borrowing costs (including as a result of the downgrades in our senior debt credit ratings since 2021). The increased level of indebtedness and our future financial performance could also reduce funds available (under our credit facilities or otherwise) for investments in product development, capital expenditures, dividend payments, acquisitions, share repurchases and other activities and may create competitive disadvantages for us relative to other companies with lower debt levels. In addition, until we achieve our commitment to reduce our indebtedness following the Hillrom acquisition, our capital allocation activities and operational flexibility is limited. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in doing so on a timely basis or at all.
Changes in foreign currency exchange rates and interest rates have, and may in the future have, an adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition, cash flows and liquidity.
We generate the majority of our net sales and profit outside the United States. As a result, our results of operations have been, and may in the future be, adversely affected by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. We cannot predict with any certainty changes in foreign currency exchange rates or our ability to mitigate these risks. We have experienced, and may continue to experience, additional volatility as a result of inflation and other macroeconomic factors, including in emerging market countries. We are also exposed to changes in interest rates, and our ability to access the money markets and capital markets on terms that are favorable to us, or at all, could be impeded if market conditions are not favorable. For more information see “Financial Instrument Market Risk” in Item 7. Management's Discussion of Analysis and Financial Condition and Results of Operations of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Our common stock price has fluctuated significantly and may continue to do so in the future.
The price of our common stock has fluctuated significantly and may continue to do so in the future for a number of reasons, including, but not limited to:
•market perceptions of any strategic actions or other developments related to our business including, for example, the proposed spinoff;
14
•variations in our net sales, earnings or other financial results from investors’ expectations or our previously issued guidance;
•departure of key personnel;
•fluctuations in the results of our operations and general conditions in the economy, our market, and the markets served by our customers, including with respect to technological advances; and
•the operating and stock performance of comparable companies or related industries.
In addition, prices in the stock market have generally been volatile in recent years. In certain cases, the fluctuations have been unrelated to the operating performance of the affected companies. As a result, the price of our common stock could also fluctuate in the future without regard to our operating performance.
Future material impairments in the value of our goodwill, intangible assets and other long-lived assets would negatively affect our operating results.
We regularly review our goodwill, intangible assets and property, plant and equipment for potential impairment. Goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets are subject to impairment reviews on an annual basis and whenever potential impairment indicators are present. Intangible assets subject to amortization and property, plant and equipment are reviewed for potential impairment when there is an indication that an impairment may have occurred. Adverse changes to macroeconomic conditions or our earnings forecasts, as well as changes in our strategic goals or business direction, could lead to impairment charges. In addition, we may from time to time pursue the sale of assets that we determine are not critical to our strategy, including in connection with strategic exits, such as the proposed spinoff. Such transactions could result in impairment charges if the estimated fair value of the assets, less costs to sell, is less than their related carrying amount. Material impairment charges would negatively affect our results of operations.
For example, as described in more detail in Note 4 of Item 8 of this Annual Report, we recognized $510 million of long-lived asset impairment charges related to the HD business within our Kidney Care segment during 2023. Additionally, as described in more detail in Note 5 of Item 8 of this Annual Report, we recognized $2.81 billion of goodwill impairments and $332 million of indefinite-lived intangible asset impairments during 2022, both related to assets acquired in connection with our December 2021 acquisition of Hillrom. Further adverse changes to macroeconomic conditions or our earnings forecasts could lead to additional goodwill or intangible asset impairment charges in future periods and such charges could be material to our results of operations. For more information on the valuation of goodwill and intangible assets, see “Critical Accounting Policies” in Item 7. Management's Discussion of Analysis and Financial Condition and Results of Operations of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Other Risks Relating to Our Business
If we are unable to successfully introduce or monetize new and existing products or services, or fail to keep pace with changing consumer preferences and needs or advances in technology, our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows could be adversely affected.
We need to successfully introduce or monetize new and existing products and services to achieve our strategic business objectives. We can provide no assurances that our new products will achieve commercial acceptance in the marketplace, or that we will be able to separately bill for new or existing services. In addition, difficulties in manufacturing or in obtaining regulatory approvals have delayed, and may in the future delay or prohibit, the introduction of new products into the marketplace. We may not be able to obtain patent protection on our new products or be able to defend our intellectual property rights globally. Warranty claims and service costs relating to our new products might be greater than anticipated, and we might be required to devote significant resources to address any quality issues associated with our new products, which could reduce the resources available for further new product development and other matters. In addition, the introduction of new products and services might also cause customers to defer purchases of existing products or services. Our future financial performance will also depend in part on our ability to influence, anticipate, identify and respond to changing consumer preferences and needs. We might not correctly anticipate or identify trends in customer preferences or needs or might identify or react to them later than competitors do.
In order to successfully introduce or monetize new and existing products and services, we must commit, and continue to commit, substantial funds, and other resources to R&D. Failure to successfully introduce new products or services in a cost-effective manner, or delays in customer purchasing decisions related to the evaluation of new products or services, could cause us to lose market share and could materially adversely affect our business. Furthermore, product development requires substantial investment and there is inherent risk in the R&D process.A
15
successful product development process further depends on many other factors, including our ability to adapt to new technologies, demonstrate satisfactory clinical results and differentiate our products from those of our competitors. If we cannot successfully introduce new competitive products or adapt to changing technologies, our products may become obsolete and our net sales and profitability could suffer.
Issues with product quality could have an adverse effect on our business or cause a loss of customer confidence in us or our products, among other negative consequences.
The development of new or enhanced products involves a lengthy regulatory process and is capital intensive. As a result, our ability to match our production levels and capacity to market demand is imprecise and may result in a failure to meet market demand or satisfy customer requirements for our products or, alternatively, an oversupply of inventory. Increased costs relating to freight, raw materials or component parts and difficulties hiring and retaining staff have had and may continue to have, a negative impact on product supply. Failure to meet market demand may result in customers transitioning to available competitive products, loss of market share, negative publicity, reputational damage, loss of customer confidence or other negative consequences (including a decline in stock price).
Our success also depends on our ability to maintain and routinely improve product quality and our quality management program. Quality management plays an essential role in meeting customer requirements, preventing defects, improving our products and services and assuring the safety and efficacy of our products. While we have a quality system that covers the lifecycle of our products, quality and safety issues have occurred, and may in the future occur, with respect to our products. For example, we have experienced certain Class I recalls related to our Novum IQ Syringe and infusion systems, SIGMA Spectrum pump and Life2000 Ventilator. New or unintended uses of our products (for example, in response to changing clinical practice) may also raise quality or safety issues. A quality or safety issue may result in negative publicity, product recalls (either voluntary or required by the FDA or similar governmental authorities in other countries), adverse regulatory site inspection reports, voluntary or official action indicated classifications, warning letters, import bans or seizures, monetary sanctions, injunctions to halt manufacture and distribution of products, civil or criminal sanctions (which may include corporate integrity agreements), costly litigation, refusal of a government to grant approvals and licenses, restrictions on operations or withdrawal of existing approvals and licenses. See “—Risks Relating to Legal and Regulatory Matters.” An inability to address a quality or safety issue in an effective and timely manner may also cause negative publicity, potentially leading to a loss of customer confidence in us or our current or future products, which may result in the loss of sales and difficulty in successfully launching new products. Additionally, we have made, and could in the future make, significant investments in assets, including inventory and property, plant and equipment, which relate to potential new products or modifications to existing products. Product quality or safety issues may restrict us from being able to realize the expected returns from these investments, potentially resulting in asset impairments in the future.
Unaffiliated third-party suppliers provide a number of goods and services to our R&D, clinical and manufacturing organizations, many of whom do so on a spot basis and not pursuant to a contractual arrangement. Our ability to receive goods or services at all or on reasonable financial terms from these third parties will be impacted if they are unable or refuse to supply or service us. Moreover, we may have limited or no recourse if the goods or services are not subject to contractual terms. If we are unable to identify or secure regulatory approval for an alternative provider on reasonable terms, our ability to meet our obligations to our customers could be negatively impacted, which could adversely affect our financial results and our reputation. Additionally, third-party suppliers are required to comply with our quality standards and those of applicable regulatory bodies. Failure of a third-party supplier to provide compliant raw materials, component parts or supplies, give us adequate notice of issues or help us secure all required regulatory approvals for the use of their products or services has resulted in delays, service interruptions and quality-related issues, and may do so again in the future, and may negatively impact our business results and results of operations.
There is substantial competition in the product markets in which we operate and the risk of declining demand and pricing pressures could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
Although no single company competes with us in all of our businesses, we face substantial competition in all of our markets from international and domestic healthcare medical products and pharmaceutical companies and providers of all sizes, and these competitors often differ across our businesses. Competition is primarily focused on cost-effectiveness, price, service, product performance and technological innovation.
Competition may increase further as additional companies begin to enter our markets, launch new products or modify their existing products to compete directly with ours. If our competitors respond more quickly to new or emerging technologies and changes in customer requirements or we do not introduce new versions or upgrades to
16
our product portfolio in response to those requirements, our products may be rendered obsolete or non-competitive. If our competitors develop more effective or affordable products or achieve earlier patent protection or product commercialization than we do, our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows will likely be negatively affected. For example, new developments such as pharmaceuticals that reduce the progression of chronic kidney disease into ESRD or reduce its incidence (including through weight loss), as well as innovations in technology and care delivery models, could materially adversely affect the demand for and future pricing and sale of our products and services.Furthermore, if we are forced to reduce our prices due to increased competition, our business could become less profitable.
In addition, many healthcare industry companies, including healthcare systems, distributors, manufacturers, providers and insurers, are consolidating or have formed strategic alliances. As the healthcare industry consolidates and new entrants emerge, competition to provide goods and services to industry participants has become, and will continue to become, more intense. Further, this consolidation creates larger enterprises with greater negotiating power, which they can use to negotiate price concessions. If we face an increase in costs or are unable to achieve targeted price increases because of industry consolidation or otherwise, the long-term nature of our customer contracts or for other reasons, or if we lose customers as a result of consolidation, our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows could be adversely affected.
Demand for our products and services depends in large part on overall demand in the healthcare market. With the healthcare market’s increased focus on asset and resource efficiency, as well as reimbursement constraints and competitive dynamics, we have seen margins for some of our products decline and they may continue to do so over time. Further, the competitive pressures in our industry could cause us to lose market share unless we increase our commercial investments or reduce our prices, which could adversely impact our operating results. These factors, along with possible legislative, regulatory and other developments, might result in significant shifts in market share among the industry’s major participants, which includes us. Accordingly, if we are unable to effectively differentiate ourselves from our competitors in terms of new products and diversification of our product portfolio, then our market share, sales and profitability could be adversely impacted through lower volume or decreased prices.
Pandemics and other public health emergencies, or the fear thereof, have had, and may in the future have, a material adverse effect on our business. The nature and extent of future impacts are uncertain and unpredictable.
Our global operations expose us to risks associated with public health emergencies, including epidemics and pandemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Pandemics or other public health emergencies have adversely impacted, and may continue to adversely impact, our operations, supply chains and distribution systems, and have increased, and may continue to increase, our expenses, including due to preventive and precautionary measures that we, other businesses and governments have taken and may continue to take.
A pandemic or other public health emergency has adversely affected, and many continue to adversely affect, our business in many ways, including, but not limited to, the following:
•During the COVID-19 pandemic, we experienced significant and unpredictable reductions and increases in demand for certain of our products as healthcare customers re-prioritized the treatment of patients. Some of our products are particularly sensitive to reductions in elective medical procedures. For example, many elective procedures were suspended or postponed in our principal markets as hospital systems prioritized treatment of COVID-19 patients or otherwise were required to comply with changing government guidelines. If patients and hospital systems de-prioritize, delay or cancel elective procedures in the future, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be negatively affected. Additionally, through the pandemic, certain portions of our patient populations (including End Stage Renal Disease patients) have experienced heightened mortality levels. Demand for related products and services may not rebound to pre-pandemic levels in light of these increased mortality rates.
•A significant number of our customers, suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and vendors were adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, including obstacles relating to their ability to maintain the continuity of their on-site operations, which impacted demand for certain of our products and services. These impacts caused interruptions and delays in our supply chain, and may do so in the future, resulting in more expensive alternative sources of labor and materials and heightened supply chain costs. Any delay or shortage in the supply of components or materials or other operational or logistical challenges may impact our ability to satisfy consumer demand for our products in a timely manner or at all, which could harm our reputation, future sales and profitability. For example, we have experienced supply constraints for amino acid raw materials used in our parenteral nutrition products, as such materials are being used to produce
17
COVID-19 vaccines. These constraints have resulted in certain product backorders and may do so in the future.
•We have experienced, and may continue to experience, a loss of sales or profitability due to delayed payments, reduced demand or capital constraints (including potential insolvency) of healthcare professionals, hospitals and other customers, as well as suppliers and vendors facing liquidity or other financial issues. These liquidity issues, as well as other financial issues, could be exacerbated if prolonged high levels of unemployment or loss of insurance coverage impact patients’ ability to access treatments that use our products and services.
•COVID-19 adversely impacted the continued service and availability of skilled personnel necessary to run our operations (and those of our customers).
Any of these and other impacts have had, and could in the future have, a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. The scope and duration of any future public health emergency will depend on a number of factors, including the potential emergence of a new pandemic, new variants of COVID-19, the pace at which government restrictions are imposed and lifted and the extent of such restrictions, the scope of additional actions taken to mitigate the spread of disease and the availability and effectiveness and acceptance of vaccines. The effect of such a health emergency on our business will also vary based on the speed with and extent to which global markets and utilization rates for our products fully recover from the disruptions caused by such a public health emergency. The impact of these and other factors on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows will depend on future developments that are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted with confidence. Finally, to the extent COVID-19 or any future public health emergency adversely affects our operations and global economic conditions more generally, many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section may be heightened.
If we fail to attract, develop, retain and engage key employees, our business may suffer.
Our ability to compete effectively depends on our ability to attract, develop, retain and engage key employees, including people in senior management, sales, marketing, information technology and R&D positions, as well as our ability to transfer the knowledge and expertise of our workforce to new employees as our employees retire or we otherwise experience employee turnover (including in connection with the completion of acquisitions or divestitures or the proposed spinoff). Competition for top talent in the healthcare industry can be intense, especially for experienced management and technical and professional employees, which could increase costs associated with identifying, attracting and retaining such individuals. Our ability to recruit, develop, retain and engage such talent will depend on a number of factors, including hiring practices of our competitors, compensation and benefits (as may be impacted by any financial performance challenges), work location, work environment (including our competitors’ policies regarding remote or hybrid work arrangements), the market’s perception of our ongoing strategic initiatives, including the proposed spinoff, and industry economic conditions. Further, a lack of employee engagement could lead to loss of productivity and increased employee burnout, turnover, absenteeism, product quality incidents and decreased customer and patient satisfaction. If we cannot effectively recruit, develop, retain and engage qualified employees, our business and results of operations could be adversely impacted.
Risks Relating to Our Business Operations
Segments of our business are significantlydependent on major contracts with GPOs, IDNs, and certain other distributors and purchasers.
A portion of our U.S. hospital sales and rentals are made pursuant to contracts with hospital GPOs. At any given time, we are typically at various stages of responding to bids, negotiating and renewing expiring GPO agreements. Failure to be awarded certain of these agreements could have a material adverse effect on our business, including product sales and service and rental revenue. In addition, we have faced and continue to face challenges related to increasing costs associated with these agreements (associated with ongoing supply chain challenges and inflation), which have negatively impacted our revenues and may continue to do so in the future.
Our participation in these agreements often requires increased discounting or restrictions on our ability to raise prices, and failure to participate or to be awarded these agreements might result in a reduction of sales to the member hospitals. In addition, in recent years, select market participants have shown an increased focus on individual GPO members negotiating directly with manufacturers on committed contracts. IDNs and health systems, when negotiating directly with manufacturers, often request additional discounts or other enhancements. Further, certain other distributors and purchasers have similar processes to the GPOs and IDNs and failure to be included in agreements with these other purchasers could have a material adverse effect on our business.
18
We may not be successful in achieving expected operating efficiencies and sustaining or improving operating expense reductions, and might experience business disruptions and adverse tax consequences associated with restructuring, realignment and cost reduction activities.
Portions of our business have been, and may in the future be, the subject of restructuring, realignment and cost reduction initiatives. For example, we recently divested our BPS business and have implemented a simplified operating model and we continue to work toward simplifying our manufacturing footprint and completing the proposed spinoff. While we are undertaking these actions, as well as any future initiatives, with the goal of realizing potential efficiencies, we may not be successful in achieving efficiencies and cost reduction benefits we expect in full or at all. Further, such benefits might be realized later than expected, and the ongoing costs of implementing these measures might be greater than anticipated. If these measures are not successful or sustainable, we might undertake additional realignment and cost reduction efforts, which could result in future charges. Moreover, our ability to achieve our other strategic goals and business plans might be adversely affected, and we could experience business disruptions, if our restructuring and realignment efforts and our cost reduction activities prove ineffective. These actions, the resulting costs, and potential delays or potential lower than anticipated benefits might also impact our foreign tax positions and might require us to record tax reserves against certain deferred tax assets in our international business.
If we are unable to obtain sufficient components or raw materials on a timely basis or for a cost-effective price or if we experience other manufacturing, sterilization, supply or distribution difficulties, our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows may be adversely affected.
The manufacture of our products requires, among other things, the timely supply or delivery of sufficient amounts of quality components and raw materials. We manufacture our products in approximately 60 principal manufacturing locations. We acquire our components, raw materials and other requirements for manufacturing from many suppliers and vendors in various countries, including sometimes from ourselves for self-supplied requirements. We endeavor, either alone or working closely with our suppliers, to ensure the continuity of our inputs and supplies, but we cannot guarantee these efforts will always be successful. Further, while efforts are made to diversify certain of our sources of components and raw materials, in certain instances there is only a sole source or supplier with no acceptable alternatives yet identified and, as applicable, qualified. Additionally, we obtain certain components and materials on a spot basis from third party suppliers with whom we do not have contractual arrangements. For most of our components and raw materials for which a single source or supplier is used, alternative sources or suppliers may exist, but we have made a strategic determination to use the single source or supplier. Although we carry strategic inventory and maintain insurance to help mitigate the potential risk related to supply disruption, such measures may not be sufficient or effective. A reduction, interruption or suspension in supply, other supply chain issues, including those due to the revocation of distribution facilities’ licenses or as a result of our ongoing strategic initiatives, and our inability to quickly develop acceptable alternative sources for such supply could adversely affect our ability to manufacture, distribute and sell our products in a timely or cost-effective mannerand could prevent us from satisfying obligations under one or more of our customer contracts or arrangements, which could result in significant failure to supply penalties. We have faced, and may in the future face, difficulties obtaining supplies of key materials, such as electromechanical components, active ingredients for pharmaceuticals and resins, due to supply chain disruptions and global pandemics. Moreover, changes in regulation, world trade policies, international taxes and government-to-government relations and issues with export and import activities could negatively impact our ability to distribute products within a country and across countries. See “—Risks Relating to Legal and Regulatory Matters.”
Additionally, our success depends upon the availability and quality of our products and the underlying raw materials and component parts. The medical products and pharmaceutical industries are competitive and subject to complex market dynamics and varying demand levels. These levels vary in response to economic conditions, regulatory requirements, seasonality, natural disasters, wars, acts of terrorism, pandemics, epidemics and other matters.
Significant increases in the cost of raw materials, sub-assemblies or materials used in the production of our products that cannot be recovered through increased prices of our products (or the unavailability of those raw materials, sub-assemblies or production materials) have adversely affected our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows and may continue to do so in the future. There can be no assurance that the marketplace will support higher prices or that such prices and productivity gains will fully offset any commodity cost increases in the future. From time to time, we enter into fixed price supply contracts with respect to raw material purchases. Future decisions not to enter into fixed price supply contracts may result in increased cost volatility, potentially adversely impacting our profitability. Volatility in the demand for our products or our costs of energy, transportation, freight, raw materials and component parts and other supply, manufacturing, distribution and warehousing or storage costs have adversely affected, and could in the future adversely affect, our business, results
19
of operations, financial condition and cash flows and have prevented, and may continue to prevent, suppliers from providing goods and services to us on reasonable terms or at all. See also “Risks Relating to Our Financial Performance and Our Common Stock—Global economic conditions, including inflation and supply chain disruptions, have adversely affected, and could continue to adversely affect, our operations.”
Many of our products are difficult to manufacture. This is due to the complex nature of manufacturing devices and pharmaceuticals, including biologics, as well as the strict regulatory regime governing our manufacturing operations. Variations in the manufacturing process may result in production failures which could lead to launch delays, product shortage, unanticipated costs, lost revenues and damage to our reputation. A failure to identify and address manufacturing problems prior to the release of products to our customers may also result in a quality or safety issue of the type discussed in the “Risk Factors” section.
We rely heavily on a limited number of providers of transport services for reliable and secure point-to-point transport of our products to our customers and patients and for tracking of these shipments, and from time to time we require warehousing for our products. If any of these providers were to encounter delivery performance issues such as loss, damage or destruction of any systems or machines, it would be costly to replace such systems or machines in a timely manner and such occurrences may damage our reputation and lead to decreased demand for our products and increased cost and expense to our business.
Some of our products are manufactured at a single manufacturing facility or stored at a single storage site. Additionally, some of our manufacturing facilities are located in the same geographic area. Loss or damage to, or closure of, a manufacturing facility or storage site due to a natural disaster, such as we experienced as a result of Hurricane Maria, a pandemic, such as COVID-19, war or acts of terrorism or otherwise could adversely affect our ability to manufacture sufficient quantities of key products or deliver products to meet customer demand or contractual requirements, which may result in a loss of revenue and other adverse business consequences, including those identified in the paragraphs above. We may be unable to transfer manufacturing of the relevant products to another facility or location in a cost-effective or timely manner, if at all. This potential inability to transfer production could occur for several reasons, including, but not limited to, a lack of necessary relevant manufacturing capability at another facility, or the regulatory requirements of FDA or other governmental regulatory bodies. Such an event could materially negatively impact our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
In addition, several of our manufacturing facilities are leased and we may not be able to renew leases on favorable terms or at all. Because of the time required to approve and license a manufacturing facility, a third-party manufacturer may not be available on a timely basis (if at all) to replace production capacity in the event we lose manufacturing capacity or products are otherwise unavailable. Any of the foregoing could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
Some of our products require sterilization prior to sale or distribution, and we utilize both Baxter-owned and third-party facilities for this process. If an event occurs that results in damage to or closure, whether temporarily or permanent, of one or more of these facilities, we may be unable to manufacture or sterilize the relevant products at prior levels or at all, and a third party may not be available on a timely basis (if at all) to replace sterilization capacity.
For example, in 2021, our facility in Mountain Home, Arkansas entered into a Consent Administrative Order with the Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality relating to certain air emissions control technology used to reduce ethylene oxide emissions from sterilization equipment. Although the events giving rise to the Consent Administrative Order only caused a temporary pause in operations, these events or other disruptions of manufacturing or sterilization processes that we or third parties may experience, whether due to a lack of capacity, environmental, regulatory or compliance issues (including evolving regulatory requirements) or otherwise, could result in product shortage, unanticipated costs, loss of revenues, operational restrictions, additional capital expenditure requirements, litigation and damage to our reputation, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
Climate change, or legal, regulatory or market measures to address climate change, could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
The long-term effects of climate change are difficult to predict and may be widespread. The impacts of climate change may include physical risks (such as water scarcity, rising sea levels or frequency and severity of extreme weather conditions, including natural disasters such as hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons), social and human effects (such as population dislocations or harm to health and well-being), compliance costs and transition risks (including due to regulatory or technology changes), shifts in market trends (for example if customers increasingly prioritize purchasing products that are sustainably made and that can be reused or recycled) and other adverse effects. Such impacts, such as damage to manufacturing facilities, local infrastructure and utilities (including as a
20
result of Hurricane Maria) have disrupted, and may in the future disrupt, our supply chain and manufacturing operations by adversely affecting our ability to procure goods or services required for the operation of our business at the quantities and levels we require due to impairment of the availability and increases in the cost of certain products, materials, commodities and energy. For example, material or sustained increases in the price of oil have had an adverse impact on the cost of many of the plastic materials or resins we use to make and package our products, as well as our transportation/freight costs. Further, the impacts of climate change, particularly severe weather events and droughts, have negatively impacted, and may in the future negatively impact, our ability to obtain material energy and water sources and other resources, including employee availability and access to shipping routes. Any of these outcomes may, in turn, result in customers transitioning to available competitive products, loss of market share, negative publicity, reputational damage, loss of customer confidence or other negative consequences, such as a decline in stock price. Further, any perceived increase in the potential of severe weather events and business interruption may put an upward pressure on the cost of our risk insurance premiums, which could adversely impact our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
In addition, the increasing concern over climate change has resulted in, and is expected to continue to result in, more local, state, regional, federal and global legal and regulatory requirements relating to climate change, including regulating greenhouse gas emissions and related reporting requirements (and the establishment of enhanced internal processes or systems to track them), alternative energy policies and sustainability initiatives. Legislation and regulations have been, and are expected to continue to be, enacted and promulgated in the United States, United Kingdom, EU or in any other jurisdictions in which we do business that impose more stringent restrictions and requirements than our current legal or regulatory obligations (as a result of our publicly disclosed corporate responsibility goals or otherwise), we may experience disruptions in, or increases in the costs associated with research, development, sourcing, manufacturing and distributing our products. Additionally, rising climate change concerns have led to and could continue to lead to additional regulation that could increase our compliance costs. As a result, any such regulatory changes could have a significant adverse effect on our business, financial condition, result of operations and cash flows.
Furthermore, companies across all industries are facing increasing scrutiny from investors, regulators, and other stakeholders related to their ESG commitments, performance, and disclosures, including related to climate change, diversity and inclusion, and governance standards. Investor advocacy groups, certain institutional investors, lenders, investment funds, and other influential investors are increasingly focused on companies’ ESG commitments (including our corporate responsibility goals), performance, and disclosures, and in recent years have placed increasing importance on social costs and related implications of their investments. Additionally, organizations that provide information to investors on corporate governance and related matters have developed ratings processes for evaluating companies on their respective approaches to ESG matters, which are increasingly being employed by investors, lenders, and customers to inform their investment, financing, or purchasing decisions. A failure to adequately meet stakeholder expectations, which may differ or conflict, may result in the loss of business, reputational impacts, diluted market valuation, an inability to attract customers, and an inability to attract and retain top talent.
Breaches and breakdowns affecting our information technology systems or protected information, including from cyber security breaches and data leakage, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, cash flows, reputation and competitive position.
We rely upon information technology systems and infrastructure, including services provided by our partners and third parties, to support our business, products and customers. For example, we routinely rely on technology systems and infrastructure in the collection, use, storage and transfer, disclosure and other processing of voluminous amounts of protected information, including personal data, protected health information, and sensitive data (of patients, employees, customers and third parties) as well as confidential, business, financial, and other sensitive information (collectively, “Protected Information”). We also rely on systems for manufacturing, customer orders, shipping, regulatory compliance and various other matters. Certain of our products and systems collect Protected Information regarding patients and their therapies and some are internet enabled or connect to our systems for maintenance and other purposes. The acquisition of Hillrom in December 2021 increased the number of these products and systems within our portfolio. Some of our products connect to the internet, hospital networks, electronic medical record systems or electronic health record systems. Further, we expect that the breadth and complexity of our information and technology systems and infrastructure will increase as we expand our product offerings to utilize and generate data analytics and potentially artificial intelligence (which create emerging enterprise risks, including but not limited to cybersecurity, monitoring, and oversight). The continuing evolution of technology we use, including cloud-based computing and data hosting as well as artificial intelligence, and reliance on third parties, whom may also use cloud-based computing and data hosting or artificial intelligence tools, create
21
additional opportunities for the unintentional, intentional, unauthorized or unlawful disclosure, exposure, dissemination, loss, alteration, access or destruction of Protected Information stored or processed in our devices, systems, servers, infrastructure and products (collectively, “Technology”). Security threats, including cyber and other attacks, have become very sophisticated, frequent and adaptive.
Our Technology is vulnerable to breakdown, interruption, cyber and other security attacks, system malfunction, unauthorized access, inadvertent exposure or disclosure of information, theft and other events. Third-party systems that we rely upon are also vulnerable to the same risks and may contain defects in design or manufacture or other problems that could result in system disruption or compromise the information security of our own systems. Any such vulnerability could compromise our Technology and could expose Protected Information to unauthorized third parties and/or cause temporary or permanent loss or unavailability of such Protected Information. In addition, our Technology may cause product functionality issues that could result in risk to patient safety, field actions or product recalls. We, like other large multi-national companies, have experienced cyber incidents in the past and may experience them in the future which have exposed and may continue to expose vulnerabilities in our information technology systems. Although the prior incidents have not had a material effect on our business and we have invested and continue to invest in the protection of data and Technology, there can be no assurance that our efforts (i) have prevented or will prevent future breakdowns, attacks, breaches in our Technology, cyber incidents or other incidents or (ii) ensure compliance with all applicable cybersecurity and privacy laws, regulations and standards, including with respect to third-party service providers that host or process Protected Information on our behalf. Any failure to protect against such incidentsor non-compliance with applicable security and privacy laws, regulations and standards could lead to substantial and material regulatory fines and penalties, business disruption, reputational harm, financial loss or litigation, as well as other damages. Misappropriation or other loss of our intellectual property from any of the foregoing may have an adverse effect on our competitive position and may cause us to incur substantial litigation costs. See “Risks Relating to Legal and Regulatory Matters.” As our customers and FDA and other global regulators, including data protection authorities or supervisory bodies, become more sensitive to risks related to cybersecurity, our ability to meet certain information technology safety standards could affect our products’ marketability and competitiveness. We could also suffer strained relationships with customers, business partners, physicians and other healthcare professionals, increased costs (for security measures, remediation or otherwise), litigation (including class actions and stockholder derivative actions) or other negative consequences (including a decline in stock price) as a result of breaches, cyber and other security attacks, industrial espionage, ransomware, phishing scams, malware or other cyber incidents, which could compromise our system infrastructure and/or lead to data leakage, including at our third-party providers or other business partners.Although we maintain insurance related to cybersecurity risks, there can be no assurance that our insurance will cover a particular cyber incident at issue or that such coverage will be sufficient.
In addition, significant implementation issues may arise as we continue to consolidate and outsource certain computer operations and application support activities, including as a result of our ongoing business transformation activities and in connection with the ongoing Hillrom integration and our other ongoing strategic initiatives, including the proposed spinoff). Further, a number of our employees have fully remote or hybrid work arrangements, which, among other things, expose us to heightened risks related to our information technology systems and networks, including cyber attacks, computer viruses, malicious software, security breaches and telecommunication failures, both for systems and networks we control directly and for those that employees and third-party developers rely on to work remotely.We also face all of the same risks listed above and other heightened risks when acquiring a company, in particular if we need to transition or implement certain processes or controls with the acquired company. For example, as we continue to integrate Hillrom into our business, we have identified certain potential areas of vulnerability as we transition its information technology systems, products and processes to our processes and controls, including with respect to cybersecurity and privacy matters. While we are working to fully address those vulnerabilities (consistent with our processes and controls) we do not believe any of them present any material risks to our business or operations (including with respect to our Technology). Any such vulnerabilities (or any others) if unidentified or unremediated could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
We are subject to risks associated with doing business globally.
Our operations are subject to risks inherent in conducting business globally and under the laws, regulations and customs of various jurisdictions and geographies. These risks include changes in exchange controls and other governmental actions, loss of business in government and public tenders that are held annually in many cases, increasingly complex labor environments, availability of raw materials and component parts, changes in taxation, tariffs, export control restrictions, changes in or violations of U.S. or local laws, dependence on a few government entities as customers, pricing restrictions, economic and political instability, monetary or currency volatility or
22
instability (including as it relates to the U.S. Dollar, the Euro, the Renminbi and currencies in emerging market countries), disputes between countries, trade relationships and conflicts, diminished or insufficient protection of intellectual property, and disruption or destruction of operations in a significant geographic region regardless of cause, including natural disaster, pandemic, power loss, cyber attack, data breach, war, terrorism, riot, labor disruption, civil insurrection or social unrest. Failure to comply with, or material changes to, the laws and regulations that affect our global operations could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
The escalating global economic competition and trade tensions among the United States, China and Russia could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. Although we have been able to mitigate some of the impact from increased duties imposed by these countries (through petitioning the governments for tariff exclusions and other mitigations), the risk remains of additional tariffs and other kinds of restrictions. Tariff exclusions awarded to us by the United States Government require annual renewal, and policies for granting exclusions could shift. The United States, China and Russia could impose other types of restrictions such as limitations on government procurement or technology export restrictions, which could affect our access to the markets. See also “Risks Relating to Legal and Regulatory Matters—We are subject to a number of laws and regulations, non-compliance with which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows, and we are susceptible to a changing regulatory environment.”
More generally, several governments have raised the possibility of policies to induce “re-shoring” of supply chains, less reliance on imported supplies and greater national production. For example, the Chinese government has issued a series of policies in the past several years to promote local medical devices or suggest government procurement budgets for local products. Another example is the stronger “Buy American” requirements in the U.S. (pursuant to a U.S. executive order on January 25, 2021). If such steps triggered retaliation in other markets, such as by restricting access to foreign products by their government-owned healthcare systems the outcomes could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
A portion of our workforce is unionized, and we could face labordisruptions that would interfere with our operations.
Some of our employees both in and outside of the United States work under collective bargaining agreements or national trade union agreements or are subject to works councils. Although we have not recently experienced any significant work stoppages as a result of labor disagreements, we cannot ensure that such a stoppage will not occur in the future. For example, a collective bargaining agreement for one of our U.S. manufacturing facilities is scheduled to expire in January 2025. Our inability to negotiate satisfactory new agreements or a labor disturbance at any of our manufacturing facilities could have a material adverse effect on our operations.
Risks Relating to Legal and Regulatory Matters
We are subject to a number of laws and regulations, non-compliance with which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows, and we are susceptible to a changing regulatory environment.
As a participant in the healthcare industry, our operations and products, and those of our customers, are regulated by numerous government agencies, both inside and outside the United States.
Laws and regulations, such as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act (collectively, the Healthcare Reform Act), which aim to decrease costs through comparative effectiveness research and pilot programs to evaluate alternative payment methodologies. Compliance with these and similar regulations could result in pricing pressure or negatively impact the demand for our products. In a number of situations, even though specific laws and regulations may not directly apply to us, our products must be capable of being used by our customers in a manner that complies with those laws and regulations.
The manufacture, distribution, marketing and use of our products are subject to extensive regulation and scrutiny by FDA and other regulatory authorities globally. Any new product must undergo lengthy and rigorous testing and other extensive, costly, and time-consuming procedures mandated by FDA and foreign regulatory authorities. The same testing and procedures sometimes apply to our products that are up for authorization or renewal or are subject to changes in laws or regulations. For example, our medical devices that are sold or distributed in the EU have to comply with the EU Medical Device Regulation that entered into force in May 2021. This Medical Device Regulation currently provides a staggered phase-in period for manufacturers to comply with related regulations through December 2028. These regulations require companies that wish to manufacture and distribute medical devices in EU member states to meet certain quality system and safety requirements and ongoing product monitoring
23
responsibilities and obtain a “CE” marking (i.e., a mandatory conformity marking for certain products sold within the European Economic Area) for their products. Various penalties exist for non-compliance with the laws implementing the European Medical Device Regulations which, if incurred, could have a material adverse impact on portions of our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. Changes to current products may be subject to vigorous review, including additional FDA 510(k) and other regulatory submissions, and approvals or the time needed to secure approvals are not certain. We may not be able to obtain such approvals on the timing or conditions we expect, or at all. Our facilities must be approved and licensed prior to production and remain subject to inspection from time to time thereafter. Failure to comply with the requirements of FDA or other regulatory authorities, including a failed inspection or a failure in our adverse event reporting system, has resulted in, and could in the future result in, adverse inspection reports, voluntary or official action indicated, warning letters, import bans, product recalls or seizures, monetary sanctions, reputational damage, injunctions to halt the manufacture and distribution of products, civil or criminal sanctions, refusal of a government to grant approvals or licenses, restrictions on operations or withdrawal of existing approvals and licenses. The failure of our suppliers to comply with regulations could also adversely affect segments of our business as regulatory actions taken by FDA against those manufacturers can result in product shortages, recalls or modifications. Any of these actions could cause a loss of customer confidence in us and our products, which could adversely affect our sales.
Our business is also subject to risks associated with U.S. and foreign legislation, regulations and trade agreements relating to the materials we import, including quotas, duties, tariffs or taxes, other charges or restrictions on imports and the nature of materials that can be used in our products, which could adversely affect our operations and our ability to import materials used in our products at current or increased levels. We cannot predict whether additional U.S. and foreign customs quotas, duties (including antidumping or countervailing duties), tariffs, taxes or other charges or restrictions, requirements as to where raw materials and component parts must be purchased, additional workplace regulations or other restrictions on our imports will be imposed in the future or adversely modified, or what effect such actions would have on our costs of operations. Future quotas, duties or tariffs may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. Future trade agreements could also provide our competitors with an advantage over us, or increase our costs, either of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. See also “Risks Relating to Our Business Operations—We are subject to risks associated with doing business globally.”
The sales, marketing and pricing of products and relationships that medical device and pharmaceutical companies have with healthcare providers are under increased scrutiny by federal, state and foreign government agencies. Compliance with the Anti-Kickback Statute, False Claims Act, Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (including as these laws relate to off-label promotion of products) and other healthcare-related laws, as well as competition and export and import laws, is under increased focus by the agencies charged with overseeing such activities. The Department of Justice (the “DOJ”) and the SEC are focused on the enforcement of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “FCPA”), particularly as it relates to the conduct of medical product and pharmaceutical companies. The FCPA and similar anti-bribery laws generally prohibit companies and their employees, contractors or agents from making improper payments to government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. Healthcare professionals in many countries are employed by the government and consequently may be considered government officials. Foreign governments are also focused on examining medical product and pharmaceutical companies’ sales and marketing activities and relationships with healthcare providers and competitive practices generally. The laws and standards governing the promotion, pricing, sale and reimbursement of our products and those governing our relationships with healthcare providers and governments, including the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, are complicated, subject to frequent change and may be violated unknowingly. Compliance with these and similar laws (or failure to comply with these laws) could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. Additionally, failure to comply with applicable laws or our internal policies has resulted, and may result in the future, in the departure or termination of key personnel, which has the potential of disrupting our operations or future performance. Furthermore, governments have chosen (as in the case of the Chinese government) or may choose to prioritize anti-corruption efforts in the healthcare sector as part of their law enforcement activities.
We are also subject to environmental laws, which are becoming more stringent throughout the world. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency (the “EPA”) regulates the use of ethylene oxide for sterilization of medical devices and is increasingly focused on reducing emissions from the ethylene oxide sterilization process, which has increased our costs of operations and necessitated changes to our manufacturing plants and processes. Additionally, the European Economic Area (the “EEA”) is phasing out the use of Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate in the immediate packaging of medicinal products and in medical devices, and the EEA is also considering regulations on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, fluorinated gases and Polyvinyl Chloride. Other governments globally have, or are considering, limiting or prohibiting the use of certain chemicals, including Polyvinyl Chloride and Diethyl
24
Phthalate. These regulatory changes could adversely impact our ability to manufacture or supply certain products in the EEA. Other environmental laws may have similar consequences for us or our suppliers, or result in liability to us.
Additionally, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and the Bureau of Industry and Security at the U.S. Department of Commerce administer laws and regulations that restrict U.S. persons and, in some instances, non- U.S. persons, in conducting activities, transacting business or making investments in certain countries, or with governments, entities and individuals subject to U.S. economic sanctions. From time to time, certain of our subsidiaries have limited business dealings with and/or provide humanitarian donations to countries subject to comprehensive sanctions and/or embargoes, including Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, Russia, Syria and Venezuela. These dealings represent an insignificant amount of our combined net sales and income but expose us to an increased risk of operating in these countries, including foreign exchange risks or restrictions or limitations on our ability to access funds generated in these jurisdictions or the risk of violating applicable sanctions or regulations, which are complex and subject to frequent change.
Our ethics and compliance programs, training, monitoring and policies may not always protect us from conduct by individual employees that violate these laws. Violations or allegations of violations of these laws may result in large civil and criminal penalties, debarment or exclusion from participating in government programs, diversion of management time, attention and resources and may otherwise have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
The laws and regulations discussed above are broad in scope and subject to evolving interpretations and changes, which may be violated unknowingly, could require us to incur substantial costs regarding compliance or to alter our sales and marketing practices and may subject us to enforcement actions or litigation, and of which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. We cannot predict with certainty what laws, regulations and healthcare initiatives, if any, will be implemented, or what the ultimate effect of healthcare reform or any future legislation or regulation will have on us. For more information related to ongoing government investigations, see Note 8 in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. For more information on regulatory matters currently affecting us, including quality-related matters, see “Certain Regulatory Matters” in Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Increasing regulatory focus on privacy and cybersecurity issues and expanding laws could impact our business and expose us to increased liability.
As a global company, we are subject to global data privacy and cybersecurity laws, regulations and codes of conduct that apply to our businesses. We are required to comply with increasingly complex and changing legal and regulatory requirements and frameworks in the United States and in other countries that govern not only the collection, use, storage, security, transfer, disclosure and other processing of protected health information and personal and sensitive data, but also the timely disclosure of cybersecurity incidents. Further, new and emerging digital and technology laws are gradually being implemented globally and have a strong interplay with privacy and cybersecurity rules, which contributes to the complexity of the regulatory landscape. In the United States, we are subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, as amended (HIPAA), the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act and the California Consumer Privacy Act (the CCPA) and California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) as well as other new and emerging state laws. HIPAA imposes stringent data privacy and security requirements, and the regulatory authority has imposed significant fines and penalties on organizations found to be out of compliance. The CCPA provides consumers with a private right of action against companies that have a security breach due to a lack of appropriate security measures. In addition, to the HHS and the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) enforcement activity has become more intense, with higher fines, in areas related to heath data that are out of scope of HIPAA.Further, we are subject to the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (the GDPR) and the NIS2 Directive, an EU wide cybersecurity legislation, which will be fully in force in 2024. The GDPR imposes stringent EU data protection requirements and provides for significant penalties for noncompliance, including heightened fines as compared to prior years. Governmental bodies are increasingly imposing cyber-incident disclosure regulations with differing criteria for what incidents must be reported as well as the timelines in which to report them.
We or our third-party providers and business partners may also be subjected to audits or investigations by one or more domestic or foreign government agencies relating to compliance with information security and privacy laws and regulations, and noncompliance with such laws and regulations could result in substantial and material fines or class action litigation.
If reimbursement or other payment for our current or future products is reduced or modified in the United States or in foreign countries, including through the implementation or repeal of government-sponsored
25
healthcare reform or other similar actions, cost containment measures, or there are changes to policies with respect to pricing, taxation or rebates, our business could suffer.
Sales of our products depend, in part, on the extent to which the costs of our products are paid by both public and private payers. These payers include Medicare, Medicaid, private healthcare insurers in the United States and foreign governments and third-party payers outside the United States. Our work with government payers carries various risks inherent in working with government entities and agencies, including government reporting and auditing, additional regulatory oversight, mandated contractual terms, failure of government appropriations and other complex procedural requirements.
Public and private payers have challenged, and are expected to continue to challenge, prices charged for medical products and services. Such downward pricing pressures from any or all of these payers may result in an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
Global efforts toward healthcare cost containment continue to exert pressure on product pricing. Governments around the world continue to use various mechanisms to control healthcare expenditures, such as price controls, the formation of public contracting authorities, product formularies, which are lists of recommended or approved products, and competitive tenders, which require the submission of a bid to sell products. Sales of our products are dependent, in part, on the availability of reimbursement by government agencies and healthcare programs, as well as insurance companies and other private payers. In much of Europe, Latin America, Asia and Australia, governments provide healthcare at low cost to patients and control their expenditures by various means, such as purchasing products through public tenders, collective purchasing, regulating prices, setting reference prices in public tenders and limiting reimbursement or patient access to certain products. For example, China has been implementing volume-based procurement policies, a series of centralized reforms being instituted in China on both a national and regional basis that has resulted in significant price cuts for pharmaceuticals and medical consumables. Additionally, austerity measures or other reforms by foreign governments may limit, reduce or eliminate payments for our products and adversely affect both pricing flexibility and demand for our products. In addition, operations within our Healthcare Systems and Technologies segment increase our exposure to risks related to reimbursement as certain portions of that business directly bill various government agencies.
The Healthcare Reform Act includes several provisions which impact our businesses in the United States, including increased Medicaid rebates and an expansion of the 340B Drug Pricing Program, which provides certain qualified entities with discounts on the purchase of drugs for outpatient use and an excise tax on the sale of certain drugs. The Healthcare Reform Act reduces Medicare and Medicaid payments to hospitals and other providers, which may cause us to experience downward pricing pressure. Certain portions of the Healthcare Reform Act could negatively impact the demand for our products, and therefore our results of operations, financial position and cash flows.
In 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services launched a new kidney health initiative. The CMS published the final ESRD Treatment Choices (ETC) mandatory payment model in 2020. The ETC launched in 30% of dialysis clinics across the country on January 1, 2021 and creates payment incentives for the greater use of home dialysis and kidney transplants for those new to and already on dialysis. CMS also announced the implementation of four voluntary payment models with the stated goal of helping healthcare providers reduce the cost and improve the quality of care for patients with late-stage chronic kidney disease and ESRD. In addition, the 2022 Physician Fee Schedule issued by CMS has extended coverage of certain Medicare telehealth services through December 31, 2023 and the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 further extended such coverage through December 31, 2024. While the availability of telehealth services can improve access to medical care, increased reliance on, and utilization of, telemedicine for delivery of healthcare services increases the risk of privacy and data breaches and cyberattacks. These proposed regulatory changes in kidney health policy and reimbursement may substantially change the U.S. end stage renal disease market and could increase demand for our peritoneal dialysis products, necessitating significant multi-year capital expenditures in order to meet that demand. However, the impact of such changes and related expenses are difficult to estimate in advance.
In addition, a substantial portion of our revenues is dependent on federal healthcare program reimbursement, and any disruptions in federal government operations, including a federal government shutdown or failure of the U.S. government to enact annual appropriations, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. Additionally, disruptions in federal government operations may negatively impact regulatory approvals and guidance that are important to our operations and create uncertainty about the pace of upcoming healthcare regulatory developments or approvals.
As a result of these and other measures, including future measures or reforms that cannot be predicted, reimbursement may not be available or sufficient to allow us to sell our products on a competitive basis. Legislation and regulations affecting reimbursement for our products may change at any time and in ways that may be adverse
26
to us. We cannot predict the impact of these pressures and initiatives, or any negative effects of any additional regulations that may affect our business.
We could be subject to fines or damages and possible exclusion from participation in federal or state healthcare programs if we fail to comply with the laws and regulations applicable to our business.
Portions of our business are subject to stringent laws and regulations at the federal or state levels governing the participation of durable medical equipment suppliers and independent diagnostic testing facilities in federal and state healthcare programs. From time to time, the U.S. government seeks additional information related to our claims submissions, and in some instances government contractors perform audits of payments made to us under Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal healthcare programs. On occasion, these reviews identify overpayments for which we submit refunds. At other times, our own internal audits identify the need to refund payments. We believe the frequency and intensity of government audits and review processes has grown, and we expect this will continue, due to increased resources allocated to these activities at both the federal and state Medicaid level, and greater sophistication in data review techniques.
In addition, our business contracts with foreign and U.S. federal, state and local government entities are subject to specific rules, regulations and approvals applicable to government contractors. Our failure to comply with these could result in contract terminations, suspension or debarment from contracting with these entities, civil fines and damages, criminal prosecution and possible exclusion from participation in federal healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, as well as possible recoupment of any overpayments related to such violations. While we believe that our practices materially comply with applicable state, federal and foreign requirements, the requirements might be interpreted in a manner inconsistent with our interpretation. Failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations, even if inadvertent, could have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
If we are unable to protect or enforce our patents or other proprietary rights, or if we become subject to claims or litigation alleging infringement of the patents or other proprietary rights of others, our competitiveness and business prospects may be materially damaged.
Patent and other proprietary rights are essential to our business. Our success depends to a significant degree on our ability to obtain and enforce patents and licenses to patent rights, both in the United States and in other countries. We cannot guarantee that our pending patent applications, or any future patent applications, will result in issued patents, our patents issued or licensed will not be challenged or circumvented by competitors, our patents will not be found to be invalid or the intellectual property rights of others will not prevent us from selling certain products or including key features in our products.
The patent position of a healthcare company is often uncertain and involves complex legal and factual questions. Significant litigation concerning patents and products is pervasive in our industry. Patent claims include challenges to the coverage and validity of our patents on products or processes as well as allegations that our products infringe patents held by competitors or other third parties. An unfavorable litigation outcome in any of these types of cases could result in a loss of patent protection or the ability to market products, which could lead to a significant loss of sales, or otherwise materially affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. We also rely on trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and know-how to develop, maintain and strengthen our competitive positions. Third parties may know, discover or independently develop equivalent proprietary information or techniques, or they may gain access to our trade secrets or publicly disclose our trade secrets.
Although our employees, consultants, parties to collaboration agreements and other business partners are generally subject to confidentiality or similar agreements to protect our confidential and proprietary information, these agreements may be breached, and we may not have adequate remedies for any breach. To the extent that our employees, consultants, parties to collaboration agreements and other business partners use intellectual property owned by others in their work for us, disputes may arise as to the rights in related or resulting know-how and inventions.
Furthermore, our intellectual property, proprietary technology and sensitive company data is potentially vulnerable to loss, damage and misappropriation from system malfunction, computer viruses and unauthorized access to our data or misappropriation or misuse thereof by those with permitted access and other events. While we have invested to protect our intellectual property, confidential information and other data, and continue to work diligently in this area, there can be no assurance that our precautionary measures have prevented or will prevent future breakdowns, breaches, cyber incidents or other events. See also “Risks Relating to Our Business Operations—Breaches and breakdowns affecting our information technology systems or protected information, including from cyber security breaches and data leakage, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial
27
condition, cash flows, reputation and competitive position.” Any of the events referenced above could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
Changes in tax laws or exposure to additional income tax liabilities may have a negative impact on our operating results.
Changes to the tax laws in the United States or other countries in which we operate could have an adverse effect on our operating results. For example, the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (the Inclusive Framework) has put forth two proposals—Pillar One and Pillar Two—that revise the existing profit allocation and nexus rules and ensure a minimal level of taxation, respectively. On December 12, 2022, the EU member states agreed to implement the Inclusive Framework’s global corporate minimum tax rate of 15%, and various countries both within and outside the EU have enacted new laws implementing Pillar Two or have draft legislation proposed for adoption. The OECD continues to release additional guidance on the two-pillar framework, with widespread implementation in 2024. We are continuing to evaluate the potential impact of the Inclusive Framework on future periods, pending legislative adoption by individual countries, which could have an adverse impact on our effective tax rate, income tax expense and cash flows.
Taxing authorities audit us from time to time and may disagree with certain positions we have taken in respect of our tax liabilities. Our tax liabilities are affected by many factors, including the amounts we charge in intra-company transactions for inventory, services, licenses, funding and other items, which are subject to the use of assumptions and judgment. Because we operate in multiple income tax jurisdictions both inside and outside the United States, cross border transactions among our affiliates are a significant part of the manner in which we operate. Although we believe that we transact intra-company business in accordance with arm’s-length principles, tax authorities may disagree with our intra-company charges, cross-jurisdictional transfer pricing or other matters, and may assess additional taxes as a result, including in connection with their review of the restated financial statements we have filed as part of our 2019 Annual Report on Form 10-K.
We regularly assess the likely outcomes of these audits in order to determine the appropriateness of our tax provision. However, we may not accurately predict the outcome of these audits and, as a result, the actual outcome of these audits may have an adverse impact on our financial results. For more information on ongoing audits, see Note 14 in Item 8 of this Annual Report.
We are party to a number of pending lawsuits and other disputes which may have an adverse impact on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
We are party to a number of pending lawsuits, settlement discussions, mediations, arbitrations and other disputes, some of which are set forth in Note 8 in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. In addition, in the future we may be party to additional lawsuits, disputes or other matters, including patent, product liability or other lawsuits. These current and future matters may result in a loss of patent protection, reduced net sales, incurrence of significant liabilities and diversion of our management’s time, attention and resources. Given the uncertain nature of litigation and other disputes generally, we are not able in all cases to estimate the amount or range of loss that could result from an unfavorable outcome in our current matters. In view of these uncertainties, the outcome of these current matters may result in charges in excess of any established reserves, and, to the extent available, liability insurance. We also continue to be self-insured with respect to product liability claims. The unavailability or inadequacy of third-party insurance coverage for current or future liability claims could increase our potential exposure to unanticipated claims and adverse decisions. Protracted litigation and other disputes, including any adverse outcomes, may have an adverse impact on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. Even claims without merit could subject us to adverse publicity and require us to incur significant legal fees.
Our Amended and Restated Bylaws designate certain courts in the State of Delaware or the federal district courts of the United States will be the sole and exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or employees.
Our Amended and Restated Bylaws (Bylaws) provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware (or, if no state court located in the State of Delaware has jurisdiction, the federal district court for the District of Delaware) is the sole and exclusive forum, to the fullest extent permitted by law, to bring (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim for or based on a breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any current or former director or officer or other employee of the company to the company or our stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law or our Certificate of Incorporation or these
28
Bylaws, as either may be amended from time to time, or (iv) any action to interpret, apply, enforce or determine the validity of the Certificate of Incorporation or Bylaws or (v) any other action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine or that is otherwise an “internal corporate claim” as defined in Section 115 of the Delaware General Corporation Law. The exclusive forum provisions of our Bylaws are not a waiver of, and do not relieve person or entity of duties to comply with, federal securities laws including those specifying the exclusive jurisdiction of federal courts under the Exchange Act and concurrent jurisdiction of federal and state courts under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our common stock is deemed to have received notice of and consented to the foregoing provisions of our Bylaws described above. The choice of forum provision may result in increased costs for investors to bring a claim. Further, the choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers, other employees, or stockholders, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers, other employees, or stockholders. However, the enforceability of similar forum provisions in other companies’ certificates of incorporation or bylaws have been challenged in legal proceedings. If a court were to find the exclusive choice of forum provision contained in our Bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.
None.
Item 1C. Cybersecurity.
We assess, identify and manage risks from cybersecurity threats through our Global Cybersecurity and Compliance Program (Cybersecurity Program), which is part of our larger enterprise risk management framework. The Cybersecurity Program is currently overseen by the Audit Committee and Quality, Compliance and Technology Committee (QCT Committee) of the Board of Directors and is managed by a dedicated Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), whose organization has oversight of cybersecurity strategy, policy, standards, architecture and processes for the security of our enterprise network, information assets and medical device technologies. Our current CISO has over 20 years of experience in cybersecurity and has held numerous positions in the cybersecurity sector, including serving as Global Cyber Risk Officer at another Fortune 500 medical products and equipment company and CISO at another healthcare company. The CISO’s organization monitors and manages, and works to identify and assess, cybersecurity risk through various technologies, resources, processes and policies that are regularly updated to align with the changing threat landscape, our evolving business needs as well as global regulatory requirements. In addition, from time to time, we also utilize external auditors and assessors to help evaluate our Cybersecurity Program, including our control measures, and to assist in conducting risk and maturity assessments. We also actively engage with industry experts, regulatory agencies, advocacy groups, intelligence and law enforcement communities as part of our continuing efforts to evaluate and enhance the effectiveness of our Cybersecurity Program.
We use a range of defenses to help protect against cybersecurity threats and to work to secure our assets, reduce detection time and improve recoverability, such as the ongoing monitoring of our systems, including with the assistance of third party vendors, conducting routine exercises with employees and senior management, including our executive officers, to promote awareness and improve internal processes, and engaging with proxy advisors and external cybersecurity rating agencies that assess our cyber risk to improve our internal evaluations and vulnerability management processes. In addition, to help promote privacy and security awareness throughout the company, all employees with a valid Baxter email address receive annual training and access to virtual events and updated materials. Further, our Third-Party Risk Management Program includes assessment and monitoring of security standards and control procedures for external suppliers and vendors, with enhanced engagement or internal controls depending on the results of the assessment.
The Cybersecurity Program maintains a cybersecurity governance and oversight framework that seeks to drive accountability for all levels of employees, including senior management and executive officers. Cybersecurity matters are generally managed by a combination of working groups led by senior management that report to the cybersecurity steering committee or cybersecurity executive oversight committee, as appropriate, on matters such as, among other things, enterprise level cybersecurity initiatives and directives, threat intelligence and product cybersecurity risks and remediations. Our cross functional cybersecurity steering committee, which is led by the CISO, is composed of members of senior management, including the Chief Information Officer, and reviews matters such as product security escalations, critical remediations and disclosure recommendations. The output from the
29
steering committee meetings is discussed at meetings of Baxter’s cybersecurity executive oversight committee, which is led by the CISO and includes the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, General Counsel, Chief Compliance & Trust Officer and our business segment presidents. The cybersecurity executive oversight committee meets quarterly, oversees enterprise and cybersecurity risk management and reports to the Audit Committee and QCT Committee of the Board. The Audit Committee currently oversees our information technology functions generally, including non-product-related cybersecurity matters, and the QCT Committee oversees product or service-based information technology matters, including with respect to product cybersecurity matters. The Audit Committee is also responsible for the oversight of any cybersecurity incident, including ones related to our products and services. Both committees receive updates from management on cybersecurity-related topics within their purview throughout the year. Additionally, the full Board generally receives periodic updates on information technology and cybersecurity matters from management and external advisors.
The CISO maintains and annually updates a Cybersecurity Incident Response Plan which is a guide for our Cyber Security Incident Response Team to respond effectively and efficiently to cybersecurity incidents in a coordinated manner in the interest of minimizing the risk of harm to our patients, customers, operations, partners, employees and third parties, consistent with our legal obligations. Cybersecurity risks and threats, including as a result of any previous cybersecurity incidents, have not materially impacted and are not reasonably expected to materially impact us or our operations to date. However, we recognize the ever-evolving cyber risk landscape and cannot provide any assurances that we will not be subject to a material cybersecurity incident in the future. See Item 1A. Risk Factors “Breaches and breakdowns affecting our information technology systems or protected information, including from cyber security breaches and data leakage, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, cash flows, reputation and competitive position” for a discussion of cybersecurity-related risks.
Item 2. Properties.
Our corporate offices are owned and located at One Baxter Parkway, Deerfield, Illinois 60015.
We manage our global operations based on four segments: Medical Products and Therapies, Healthcare Systems and Technologies, Pharmaceuticals and Kidney Care. We own or have long-term leases on all of our manufacturing facilities and the location of the principal manufacturing facilities of each of our segments are listed below:
(2)We own the facility located at Woodlands, Singapore and lease the property upon which it rests.
We also own or operate shared distribution facilities throughout the world. In the United States and Puerto Rico, there are six shared distribution facilities with the principal facilities located in Memphis, Tennessee; Cataño, Puerto Rico; North Cove, North Carolina; and Round Lake, Illinois. Internationally, we have more than 100 shared distribution facilities located in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Panama, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.
We regularly evaluate our plants and production lines and believe that our current facilities plus any planned expansions are generally sufficient to meet our expected needs and expected near-term growth. Expansion projects and facility closings will be undertaken as necessary in response to market needs.
30
Item 3. Legal Proceedings.
Incorporated by reference to Note 8 in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.
Not Applicable.
Information about our Executive Officers
As of February 8, 2024, the following serve as Baxter’s executive officers:
José E. Almeida, age 61, is Chair, President and Chief Executive Officer, having served in that capacity since January 2016. He began serving as an executive officer of Baxter in October 2015. He served as Senior Advisor with The Carlyle Group from May 2015 until October 2015. Previously, he served as the Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Covidien plc (Covidien), a global health care products company, from March 2012 to January 2015, prior to the acquisition of Covidien by Medtronic plc (Medtronic), and President and Chief Executive Officer of Covidien from July 2011 to March 2012. Mr. Almeida served in other executive roles with Covidien (formerly Tyco Healthcare (Tyco)) between April 2004 and June 2011. Mr. Almeida currently serves on the Board of Directors of Bank of America. He previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., and the board of trustees of Partners in Health.
James Borzi, age 61, is Executive Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer. He joined Baxter in August 2020 from GE Healthcare, where he served as Vice President, Chief Supply Chain Officer from 2019 to 2020. Prior to joining GE Healthcare, he served in various manufacturing operations leadership roles at Becton Dickinson (BD), including Executive Vice President of Global Operations and Chief Supply Chain Officer from 2013 to 2019. Earlier in his career, he was Senior Vice President of Operations & Technology at Hydro Aluminum and Executive Vice President of Worldwide Operations at Lennox International. Prior to that, he was the Chief Operating Officer at AEES Inc. and Senior Vice President of Americas Operations at Alcoa Corporation. Mr. Borzi is a senior advisor to the NAI Group, a Pritzker Private Capital company.
Joel T. Grade, age 53, is Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Grade joined Baxter in 2023 following a 25-year career with Sysco Corporation (Sysco), the world’s global foodservice leader. He most recently served as Sysco’s Executive Vice President, Corporate Development from 2020 to 2023. His previous roles at Sysco included Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from 2015 to 2020, Senior Vice President of Finance and Chief Accounting Officer, and Senior Vice President of foodservice operations. He currently serves as a member of Northwestern University-Kellogg School of Business Financial Network Advisory Board and the Dean’s External Advisory Board of the University of Wisconsin School of Business.
Heather Knight, age 52, is Executive Vice President and Group President, Medical Products & Therapies. She was appointed to her role leading Medical Products & Therapies in 2023 after serving as President, Acute Therapies, Clinical Nutrition, Medication Delivery, Latin America and Canada since 2021. She previously served as General Manager, U.S. Hospital Products from 2019 to 2021. Ms. Knight joined Baxter in 2019 from Medtronic plc (Medtronic), where she served as Vice President/General Manager of the global gynecologic health, colorectal health and hernia businesses from 2016 to 2019. She has nearly 30 years of experience across the pharmaceutical and medical device industries in roles of increasing responsibility. Prior to joining Medtronic, she held key commercial leadership positions at Kendal Healthcare, Tyco Healthcare, and Covidien. Ms. Knight is a member of the Board of Chanell Medsystems, a medical device company dedicated to empowering every woman to take control of her health journey and live her best life, and Technovation, a global technology education nonprofit that inspires girls to be leaders and problem solvers in their lives and their community. She previously served as a member of the Board of Titan Medical Inc.
Jeanne K. Mason, Ph.D., age 68, is Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer having served in that capacity since 2006. Ms. Mason joined Baxter in 2006 from GE Insurance Solutions, a primary insurance and reinsurance business, where she was responsible for global human resource functions. Ms. Mason began her career with General Electric (GE) in 1988 after serving with the U.S. General Accounting Office in Washington, D.C. Her GE experience included leadership roles in Europe for GE Information Services and GE Capital Real Estate. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Family Service of Lake County and is a member of the Executive Advisory Council for the Chicago Chapter of National Association of African Americans in Human Resources.
Reazur Rasul, age 47, is Executive Vice President and Group President, Healthcare Systems & Technologies. He was appointed to his current role in 2023 after serving as President of Front Line Care since 2022. Prior to that, Mr.
31
Rasul served as General Manager for the Acute Therapies & Medication Delivery businesses from 2021 to 2022, and General Manager, for the Acute Therapies business from 2017 to 2021. Before joining Baxter in 2017, he worked with Hewlett Packard Enterprise where he was Vice President and General Manager of the Global Cloud infrastructure business. Previously, he worked with GE Healthcare where he held several roles of increasing responsibility in business leadership and strategy, including General Manager of the Global Interventional Cardiology business. Mr. Rasul began his professional career with Toyota Motor Corporation and ultimately held multiple leadership positions in strategy, product development and operations.
David S. Rosenbloom, age 64, is Executive Vice President and General Counsel. Mr. Rosenbloom joined Baxter from McDermott Will & Emery (McDermott), where he served as a partner for 24 years and Global Head of the Litigation Practice Group from 2017 to 2022. Prior to McDermott, he served for eight years in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois. Mr. Rosenbloom is a member of the Board of the Digestive Health Foundation, which supports research at Northwestern Digestive Health Center, which is part of Northwestern Medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Alok Sonig, age 51, is Executive Vice President and Group President, Pharmaceuticals. He was appointed to his new role in 2023 after serving as President since 2022. Mr. Sonig joined Baxter in 2022 from Lupin, Inc. (Lupin), where he served as U.S. CEO and Global Head of R&D and Biosimilars from 2018 to 2022. He brings more than 25 years of experience in the life sciences industry. Prior to Lupin, Mr. Sonig served as CEO of Developed Markets (U.S., Canada, Europe, and Japan) at Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories. He also spent more than 15 years at Bristol Myers Squibb, where he held several positions of increasing responsibility in general management, global strategy and marketing. Mr. Sonig is currently a member of the Advisory Boards for the American University, Kogod School of Business, and Sentry Sciences, Inc., and is a member of the Board of the Southern Asian Pharmaceutical Council.
Christopher A. Toth, age 44, is Executive Vice President and Group President, Kidney Care. Mr. Toth assumed his responsibilities at Baxter in June 2023 and has been selected as the Chief Executive Officer of the independent company to emerge from the proposed separation of our Kidney Care business into an independent company. Before joining Baxter, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Varian, a Siemens Healthineers Company from 2021 to 2023. Prior to this, he held numerous executive leadership roles across a two-decade career with Varian, including as President and Chief Operating Officer from 2019 to 2021, President of Varian Oncology Systems from 2018 to 2019; and President of Global Commercial and Field Operations. Mr. Toth was previously a member of the U.S. India Strategic Partnership Forum Board and President Biden’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa.
All executive officers hold office until the next annual election of officers or until their respective successors are elected and qualified.
32
PART II
Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.
Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
In July 2012, the Board of Directors authorized a share repurchase program and the related authorization was subsequently increased a number of times. During the fourth quarter of 2023, we did not repurchase any shares under this authority. The remaining authorization under this program totaled approximately $1.30 billion at December 31, 2023. This program does not have an expiration date.
Market Information and Holders of our Common Stock
Our common stock is listed on the New York and Chicago stock exchanges. The New York Stock Exchange is the principal market on which our common stock is traded under the symbol “BAX”. As of January 31, 2024, there were 19,117 holders of record of our common stock.
Performance Graph
The following graph compares the change in our cumulative total stockholder return (including reinvested dividends) on our common stock with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Composite Index and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Health Care Index over the past five years.
1 TSR calculations (as provided by FactSet) include reinvested dividends.
Item 6. Reserved.
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis ofFinancial Condition and Results of Operations.
The following commentary should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes included in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
33
EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW
Description of the Company, Recent Strategic Actions and Business Segments
Baxter International Inc. is a global medical technology with approximately 60,000 employees worldwide who are engaged in the development, manufacture and sale of a broad range of products, digital health solutions and therapies used by hospitals, kidney dialysis centers, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, ambulatory surgery centers, doctors’ offices and patients at home under physician supervision. Our global footprint and the critical nature of our products and services, which are sold in over 100 countries as of December 31, 2023, play a key role in expanding access to healthcare in emerging and developed countries.
In mid-2022, our Board of Directors authorized a strategic review of our business portfolio, with the goal of increasing stockholder value. As part of that review process, we identified and evaluated a range of potential strategic actions, including opportunities for sales and other separation transactions. In January 2023, following the completion of that review, we announced the following planned strategic actions that are intended to enhance our operational effectiveness, accelerate innovation and drive additional stockholder value: (a) a proposed spinoff of our Kidney Care business into an independent publicly traded company focused on kidney care and organ support (the proposed spinoff), (b) our development of a new operating model to simplify our operations and better align our manufacturing and supply chain to our commercial activities and (c) our pursuit of strategic alternatives for our BioPharma Solutions (BPS) business.
Proposed Separation of Kidney Care Business
We are working to complete the proposed separation of our Kidney Care business in the interest of establishing an independent company focused on kidney care and organ support. While we continue to evaluate all strategic options in the interest of maximizing stockholder value, we continue to progress towards our current target of July 2024 for completion of the proposed spinoff of this business. In both 2023 and 2022 we generated $4.45 billion of combined net sales from our Kidney Care segment, representing approximately 30% and 31%, respectively, of our consolidated net sales. We intend for the proposed spinoff to qualify as tax-free to Baxter and our stockholders for U.S. federal income tax purposes. The proposed spinoff is subject to the satisfaction of customary conditions, including final approval from our Board of Directors, the filing and effectiveness of a registration statement on Form 10, receipt of an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) ruling or related tax opinions from counsel, satisfactory completion of financing arrangements, consultations with works councils and other employee representative bodies and any necessary regulatory approvals.
We incurred $225 million of pre-tax costs related to the proposed spin-off during 2023 and we expect to continue to incur significant separation-related costs in 2024. Additionally, we expect to incur dis-synergies following our completion of the proposed spinoff transaction due to the reduced size of our company and, as a result, we will need to undertake actions to ensure that our cost structure is appropriate to support our remaining businesses.
There can be no guarantees that the proposed spinoff will be completed in the manner or over the timeframes described above, or at all.
Implementation of New Operating Model and Resulting Segment Change
Our reportable segments were previously comprised of the following geographic segments related to our legacy Baxter business: Americas (North and South America), EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and APAC (Asia Pacific), and a global segment for our Hillrom business. As discussed below under “Recent Strategic Actions,” in the third quarter of 2023, we completed the implementation of a new operating model intended to simplify and streamline our operations and better align our manufacturing and supply chain to our commercial activities. Under this new operating model, our business is comprised of four segments: Medical Products and Therapies, Healthcare Systems and Technologies (formerly referred to as our Hillrom segment), Pharmaceuticals and Kidney Care (which would become an independent publicly traded company following the completion of the proposed spinoff transaction). Our segment reporting was changed during the third quarter of 2023 to align with our new operating model and prior period segment disclosures have been revised to reflect the new segments.
The Medical Products and Therapies segment includes sales of our sterile IV solutions, infusion systems, administration sets, parenteral nutrition therapies and surgical hemostat, sealant and adhesion prevention products. The Healthcare Systems and Technologies segment includes sales of our connected care solutions and
34
collaboration tools, including smart bed systems, patient monitoring systems and diagnostic technologies, respiratory health devices and advanced equipment for the surgical space, including surgical video technologies, precision positioning devices and other accessories. The Pharmaceuticals segment includes sales of specialty injectable pharmaceuticals, inhaled anesthesia and drug compounding. The Kidney Care segment includes sales of chronic and acute dialysis therapies and services, including peritoneal dialysis (PD), hemodialysis (HD), continuous renal replacement therapies (CRRT) and other organ support therapies. Other sales not allocated to a segment primarily include sales of products and services provided directly through certain of our manufacturing facilities and royalty income under a business development arrangement that ended in early 2023 when we acquired the related product rights.
For financial information about our segments, see Note 18 in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Sale of BPS Business
On September 29, 2023, we completed the sale of our BPS business and received cash proceeds of $3.96 billion from that transaction. The financial position, results of operations and cash flows of our BPS business, including the $2.88 billion pre-tax gain ($2.59 billion net of tax) from the sale of that business and the related cash proceeds received, are reported as discontinued operations in the accompanying consolidated financial statements. We intend to use substantially all of the after-tax proceeds from this transaction to repay certain of our debt obligations, including $514 million of commercial paper borrowings and $2.28 billion of long-term debt that we repaid during the fourth quarter of 2023.
See Note 2 in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information.
Financial Results
Our global net sales totaled $14.81 billion in 2023, an increase of 2% over 2022 on a reported basis and 3% on a constant currency basis. International sales totaled $7.81 billion in 2023, an increase of 3% compared to 2022 on a reported basis and 4% on a constant currency basis. Sales in the United States totaled $7.00 billion in 2023, an increase of 1% compared to 2022. Refer to the Net Sales discussion in the Results of Operations section below for more information related to changes in net sales on a constant currency basis.
Net income (loss) attributable to Baxter stockholders totaled $2.66 billion, or $5.25 per diluted share, in 2023. Net income (loss) attributable to Baxter stockholders in 2023 included special items which increased net income by $1.18 billion, or $2.33 per diluted share. See our special items subsection, in the Results of Operations section below, for information about special items for all periods present.
Net income (loss) from continuing operations totaled $(69) million, or $(0.15) per diluted share, in 2023. Net income (loss) from continuing operations in 2023 included special items which adversely impacted our results by $1.40 billion, or $2.75 per diluted share.
Our financial results included research and development (R&D) expenses totaling $667 million in 2023, which reflects our focus on balancing investments to support our new product pipeline with efforts to optimize overall R&D spending (including with respect to the maintenance of our portfolio).
While we continue to face continuing global macroeconomic challenges, our financial position remains strong, with operating cash flows from continuing operations totaling $1.70 billion in 2023. We have continued to execute on our disciplined capital allocation framework, as discussed in the "Business Strategy" section in Item 1. Business of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, which is designed to optimize stockholder value creation through reinvestment in our businesses, dividends and share repurchases, as well as acquisitions and other business development initiatives and debt repayments, consistent with our previously stated commitment to achieve our net leverage targets.
Capital expenditures totaled $692 million in 2023 as we continue to invest across our businesses to support future growth, including additional investments in support of new and existing product capacity expansions. Our investments in capital expenditures in 2023 were focused on projects that improve production efficiency, enhance our quality systems and optimize manufacturing capabilities to support our business growth.
We also continued to return value to our stockholders. During 2023, we paid cash dividends to our stockholders totaling $586 million.
35
During 2024, we expect to continue to incur significant separation-related costs related to the proposed spinoff, which may adversely impact our earnings and operating cash flows.
FACTORS AFFECTING OUR RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Supply Constraints and Global Economic Conditions
We have experienced significant challenges to our global supply chain in recent periods, including production delays and interruptions, increased costs and shortages of raw materials and component parts (including resins and electromechanical devices) and higher transportation costs, resulting from the pandemic and other exogenous factors including significant weather events, elevated inflation levels, increased interest rates, disruptions to certain ports of call and access to shipping ports around the world, the war in Ukraine, the conflict in the Middle East (including recent attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea), tensions between China and Taiwan and other geopolitical events. Due to the nature of our products, which include dense consumable medical products such as IV fluids, and the geographic locations of our manufacturing facilities, which often require us to transport our products long distances, we may be more susceptible to increases in freight costs and other supply chain challenges than certain of our industry peers. While we have seen some improvements in the availability of certain component parts and improved pricing in certain raw materials, these challenges have not completely subsided and may continue to have a negative impact on our supply chain in future periods. These challenges, including the unavailability of certain raw materials and component parts, have also had a negative impact on our sales for certain product categories (including those acquired in our December 2021 acquisition of Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc. (Hillrom)) due to our inability to fully satisfy demand and may continue to have a negative impact on our sales in the future.
Our results of operations are also affected by macroeconomic conditions and levels of business confidence. The war in Ukraine, the conflict in the Middle East (including recent attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea), tensions between China and Taiwan and the sanctions and other measures being imposed in response to these conflicts (and the potential for escalation of these conflicts) have increased the levels of economic and political uncertainty and we continue to closely monitor the developing situations. With respect to the war in Ukraine and our business in Russia, we have substantially completed our wind down efforts related to our business in Russia in a manner that we structured to be compliant with all applicable U.S. and European Union sanctions and regulations. While these countries do not constitute a material portion of our business, a significant escalation or expansion of economic disruption or the current scope of these conflicts could have an adverse effect on our business in the region.
Our global operations expose us to risks associated with public health crises and epidemics/pandemics. COVID-19 had, and it or any other future public health crisis could in the future have an adverse impact on, among other things, our expenses, operations, supply chains and distribution systems. Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, our business was impacted by shifting healthcare priorities and significant volatility in the demand for our products, and any resurgence of the pandemic or any new public health crisis could again impact healthcare priorities and cause volatility in the demand for our products.
The existence of high inflation rates in the United States and in many of the countries where we conduct business has resulted in, and may continue to result in, higher interest rates, shipping costs, labor costs and other costs and expenses. Additionally, adverse changes in foreign currency exchange rates have increased our costs of sourcing certain raw materials in some jurisdictions. We have experienced and may continue to experience inflationary increases in manufacturing costs and operating expenses, and we may not be able to pass these cost increases on to our customers in a timely manner or at all, which could have a material adverse impact on our profitability and results of operations. Inflation and general macroeconomic factors have caused certain of our customers to reduce or delay orders for our products and services and could cause them to do so in the future, which could have a material adverse impact on our sales and results of operations.
As a medical products company, our operations and many of the products manufactured or sold by us are subject to extensive regulation by numerous government agencies, both within and outside the United States. These regulations, as described in "Government Regulation" in Item 1. Business of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, require that we obtain specific approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and non-U.S. regulatory authorities before we can market and sell most of our products in a particular country. Failure to obtain or maintain those approvals or clearances could have a material adverse impact on our business (including with respect to our ability to compete in the product markets in which we currently operate). Furthermore, FDA in the United States, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in Europe, the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) in China and other
36
government agencies, inside and outside of the United States, administer requirements covering the testing, safety, effectiveness, manufacturing, labeling, promotion and advertising, distribution and post-market surveillance of our products. Our failure to comply with these requirements may subject us to various actions, including warning letters, product recalls or seizures, monetary sanctions, injunctions to halt the manufacture and distribution of products, civil or criminal sanctions, refusal of a government to grant approvals or licenses, restrictions on operations or withdrawal of existing approvals and licenses and may have a material adverse impact on our results of operations.
For further discussion, please refer to Item 1A. Risk Factors of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
RECENT BUSINESS COMBINATIONS AND ASSET ACQUISITIONS
Zosyn
On March 22, 2022, we entered into an agreement with a subsidiary of Pfizer Inc. to acquire the rights to Zosyn, a premixed frozen piperacillin-tazobactam product, in the U.S. and Canada. Zosyn is used for the treatment of intra-abdominal infections, nosocomial pneumonia, skin and skin structure infections, female pelvic infections and community-acquired pneumonia. Under the terms of the acquisition, we paid the acquisition price of $122 million and received specified intellectual property, including patent rights, in the first quarter of 2022 and received additional intellectual property, including the product rights to Zosyn, in the first quarter of 2023. Under the arrangement, we received profit sharing payments from sales of Zosyn until the product rights transferred to us in March 2023. Refer to Note 3 in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information regarding our acquisition of the rights to Zosyn.
Hillrom
On December 13, 2021, we completed our acquisition of all outstanding equity interests of Hillrom for a purchase price of $10.48 billion. Including the assumption of Hillrom's outstanding debt obligations, the enterprise value of the transaction was $12.84 billion.
Hillrom was a global medical technology leader whose products and services help enable earlier diagnosis and treatment, optimize surgical efficiency, and accelerate patient recovery while simplifying clinical communication and shifting care closer to home. Hillrom made those outcomes possible through digital and connected care solutions and collaboration tools, including smart bed systems, patient monitoring and diagnostic technologies, respiratory health devices, advanced equipment for the surgical space and more, delivering actionable, real-time insights at the point of care.
In 2023 and 2022 our Healthcare Systems and Technologies segment (formerly our Hillrom segment) generated net sales of $3.01 billion and $2.94 billion, respectively. During 2022, we also recognized $2.81 billion of goodwill impairments and $332 million of indefinite-lived intangible asset impairments related to goodwill and trade name intangible assets that arose from the Hillrom acquisition. See Notes 3, 5, 6 and 18 in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information about the Hillrom acquisition, goodwill and intangible asset impairments, Hillrom acquisition financing arrangements and our Healthcare Systems and Technologies segment results, respectively.
PerClot
On July 29, 2021, we acquired certain assets related to PerClot Polysaccharide Hemostatic System (PerClot), including distribution rights for the U.S. and specified territories outside of the U.S., from CryoLife, Inc. for an upfront purchase price of $25 million and the potential for additional cash consideration of up to $36 million, which had an acquisition-date fair value of $28 million, based upon regulatory and commercial milestones. PerClot is an absorbable powder hemostat indicated for use in surgical procedures, including cardiac, vascular, orthopedic, spinal, neurological, gynecological, ENT and trauma surgery as an adjunct hemostat when control of bleeding from capillary, venous, or arteriolar vessels by pressure, ligature, and other conventional means is either ineffective or impractical. Refer to Note 3 in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information regarding the acquisition of PerClot.
37
Transderm Scop
On March 31, 2021, we acquired the rights to Transderm Scop (TDS) for the U.S. and specified territories outside of the U.S. from subsidiaries of GlaxoSmithKline for an upfront purchase price of $60 million including the cost of acquired inventory and the potential for additional cash consideration of $30 million, which had an acquisition-date fair value of $24 million, based upon regulatory approval of a new contract manufacturer by a specified date. We previously sold this product under a distribution license to the U.S. institutional market. TDS is indicated for post-operative nausea and vomiting in the U.S. and motion sickness in European markets. Refer to Note 3 in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information regarding the acquisition of TDS.
Caelyx and Doxil
On February 17, 2021, we acquired the rights to Caelyx and Doxil, the branded versions of liposomal doxorubicin, from a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson for specified territories outside of the U.S for $325 million in cash. We previously acquired the U.S. rights to this product in 2019. Liposomal doxorubicin is a chemotherapy medicine used to treat various types of cancer. Refer to Note 3 in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information regarding the acquisition of Caelyx and Doxil.
NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
Our presentation of percentage changes in net sales at constant currency rates, which is computed using current period local currency sales at the prior period’s foreign exchange rates, is a non-GAAP financial measure. This measure provides information about growth (or declines) in our net sales as if foreign currency exchange rates had not changed between the prior period and the current period. We believe that the non-GAAP measure of percent change in net sales at constant currency rates, when used in conjunction with the U.S. GAAP measure of percent change in net sales at actual currency rates, may provide a more complete understanding and facilitate a fuller analysis of our results of operations, particularly in evaluating performance from one period to another.
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
CONSOLIDATED NET SALES
Percent change
At actual currency rates
At constant
currency rates 3
years ended December 31 (in millions)
2023
2022
2021
2023
2022
2023
2022
United States
$
7,000
$
6,955
$
4,938
1
%
41
%
1
%
41
%
Emerging markets 1
3,319
3,222
3,012
3
%
7
%
5
%
14
%
Rest of world 2
4,494
4,329
4,196
4
%
3
%
4
%
13
%
Total net sales
$
14,813
$
14,506
$
12,146
2
%
19
%
3
%
24
%
1Emerging markets include sales from our operations in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia (except for Japan).
2 Rest of world includes sales from our operations in Western Europe, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
3 Percent change in net sales at constant currency rates is a non-GAAP financial measure. See the section entitled “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for additional information about our use of that measure.
Foreign currency adversely impacted net sales by 1 percentage point during the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the prior year period, primarily due to the strengthening of the U.S. Dollar relative to the Turkish Lira, Chinese Renminbi, Australian Dollar, Japanese Yen and the Canadian Dollar, partially offset by the weakening of the U.S. Dollar relative to the Euro and Mexican Peso. Our acquisition of Hillrom in December 2021 favorably impacted net sales by 23 percentage points for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the prior year period. Foreign currency adversely impacted net sales by 5 percentage points during the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the prior year period, primarily due to the strengthening of the U.S. Dollar relative to the Euro, British Pound, Turkish Lira, Australian Dollar, Japanese Yen and Chinese Renminbi.
38
NET SALES BY SEGMENT
Medical Products and Therapies
Our Medical Products and Therapies segment includes sales of our sterile IV solutions, infusion systems, administration sets, parenteral nutrition therapies and surgical hemostat, sealant and adhesion prevention products.
Percent change
years ended December 31 (in millions)
2023
2022
At actual currency rates
At constant
currency rates 1
Infusion Therapies and Technologies
$
3,960
$
3,817
4
%
4
%
Advanced Surgery
1,051
998
5
%
6
%
Total Medical Product and Therapies net sales
$
5,011
$
4,815
4
%
4
%
1 Percent change in net sales at constant currency rates is a non-GAAP financial measure. See the section entitled “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for additional information about our use of that measure.
Medical Product and Therapies segment net sales increased 4% for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the prior year period.
Infusion Therapies and Technologies net sales increased 4% for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the prior year period. Sales performance in 2023 reflected strong demand for our infusion systems and administration sets, as well as growth in IV solutions and international nutrition compounding, partially offset by lower sales of parenteral nutrition products in the U.S. as compared with the prior year period.
Advanced Surgery net sales increased 5% for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the prior year period, driven by continued recovery in surgical procedures, partially offset by temporary supply constraints, the exit of a product distribution arrangement and a comparison against prior year periods that benefited from competitor supply constraints. Foreign currency exchange rates adversely impacted net sales by 1% for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the prior year period.
Percent change
years ended December 31 (in millions)
2022
2021
At actual currency rates
At constant
currency rates 1
Infusion Therapies and Technologies
$
3,817
$
3,844
(1)
%
3
%
Advanced Surgery
998
977
2
%
8
%
Total Medical Product and Therapies net sales
$
4,815
$
4,821
(0)
%
4
%
1 Percent change in net sales at constant currency rates is a non-GAAP financial measure. See the section entitled “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for additional information about our use of that measure.
Medical Product and Therapies segment net sales remained flat for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the prior year period.
Infusion Therapies and Technologies net sales decreased 1% for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the prior year period. Sales performance in 2022 reflected lower sales of infusion pumps, sales headwinds in China driven by COVID-related lockdowns and lower sales of vitamins resulting from ongoing supply constraints. Supply chain constraints, including constraints related to the availability of semiconductor components and other components used in the production of our infusion pumps, adversely impacted sales of infusion pumps. Those items were offset by increased demand for IV administration sets and solutions, reflecting a recovery in hospital administration rates and surgical procedures and lower growth in the U.S. for our parenteral nutrition therapies and related products, including multi-chamber bags. Foreign currency exchange rates adversely impacted net sales by 4% for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the prior year period.
Advanced Surgery net sales increased 2% for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the prior year period, driven by a continued recovery in surgical procedures, particularly in Europe, and benefits from competitor supply constraints. Foreign currency exchange rates adversely impacted net sales by 6% for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the prior year period.
39
Healthcare Systems and Technologies
Our Healthcare Systems and Technologies segment includes sales of our connected care solutions and collaboration tools, including smart bed systems, patient monitoring systems and diagnostic technologies, respiratory health devices and advanced equipment for the surgical space, including surgical video technologies, precision positioning devices and other accessories.
Percent change
years ended December 31 (in millions)
2023
2022
At actual currency rates
At constant
currency rates 1
Care and Connectivity Solutions
$
1,800
$
1,791
1
%
1
%
Front Line Care
1,213
1,148
6
%
6
%
Total Healthcare Systems and Technologies net sales
$
3,013
$
2,939
3
%
3
%
1 Sales growth at constant currency rates is a non-GAAP financial measure. See the section entitled “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for further information.
Healthcare Systems and Technologies segment net sales increased 3% for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the prior year period.
Care and Connectivity Solutions net sales increased 1% for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the prior year period, driven by international demand and sales generated from recent product launches in the U.S., partially offset by lower rental revenues and lower capital spending in the U.S. reflecting the macroeconomic environment in 2023.
Front Line Care net sales increased 6% for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the prior year period, primarily driven by increased demand for our cardiology products, patient monitoring systems and physical assessment tools. Performance in the current year benefited from backlog reductions due to improved availability of component parts used in certain of our products.
Percent change
years ended December 31 (in millions)
2022
2021
At actual currency rates
At constant
currency rates 1
Care and Connectivity Solutions
$
1,791
$
142
NM
NM
Front Line Care
1,148
70
NM
NM
Total Healthcare Systems and Technologies net sales
$
2,939
$
212
NM
NM
1 Percent change in net sales at constant currency rates is a non-GAAP financial measure. See the section entitled “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for additional information about our use of that measure.
NM - Not Meaningful
The Healthcare Systems and Technologies segment was added in connection with our acquisition of Hillrom in December 2021. Net sales for the year ended December 31, 2022 were adversely impacted by supply chain constraints, particularly related to components used in our Front Line Care product offerings, hospital budget constraints and delays in product installations for Care and Connectivity Solutions resulting from limitations on hospital access due, in part, to staffing challenges experienced by those customers. The net sales amounts for 2021 reflect sales over the 18-day period from the Hillrom acquisition date through year-end.
40
Pharmaceuticals
Our Pharmaceuticals segment includes sales of specialty injectable pharmaceuticals, inhaled anesthesia and drug compounding.
Percent change
years ended December 31 (in millions)
2023
2022
At actual currency rates
At constant
currency rates 1
Injectables and Anesthesia
$
1,347
$
1,305
3
%
4
%
Drug Compounding
902
821
10
%
12
%
Total Pharmaceuticals net sales
$
2,249
$
2,126
6
%
7
%
1 Percent change in net sales at constant currency rates is a non-GAAP financial measure. See the section entitled “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for additional information about our use of that measure.
Pharmaceuticals segment net sales increased 6% for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the prior year period.
Injectables and Anesthesia net sales increased 3% for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the prior year period, primarily due to growth in our U.S. injectable products, driven by our launches of Zosyn, following the transfer of the related product rights to us in April 2023, Bendamustine and Norepinephrine, partially offset by lower sales of inhaled anesthesia products. Foreign currency exchange rates adversely impacted net sales by 1% for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the prior year period.
Drug Compounding net sales increased 10% for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the prior year period, driven by increased demand for our international pharmacy compounding services. Foreign currency exchange rates adversely impacted net sales by 2% for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the prior year period.
Percent change
years ended December 31 (in millions)
2022
2021
At actual currency rates
At constant
currency rates 1
Injectables and Anesthesia
$
1,305
$
1,390
(6)
%
(2)
%
Drug Compounding
821
901
(9)
%
(0)
%
Total Pharmaceuticals net sales
$
2,126
$
2,291
(7)
%
(1)
%
1 Percent change in net sales at constant currency rates is a non-GAAP financial measure. See the section entitled “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for additional information about our use of that measure.
Pharmaceuticals segment net sales decreased 7% for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the prior year period.
Injectables and Anesthesia net sales decreased 6% for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the prior year period, primarily due to a 4% negative impact from foreign exchange rate changes as compared to the prior year period. Net sales were also adversely impacted by increased competition from new market entrants and supply constraints impacting the production of certain molecules. Those items were partially offset by increased international sales of inhaled anesthesia products.
Drug Compounding net sales decreased 9% for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the prior year period, primarily driven by a 9% negative impact from foreign exchange rate changes.
41
Kidney Care
Our Kidney Care segment includes sales of products used in PD, HD, CRRT and other organ support therapies (OSTs).
Percent change
years ended December 31 (in millions)
2023
2022
At actual currency rates
At constant
currency rates 1
Chronic Therapies
$
3,683
$
3,714
(1)
%
0
%
Acute Therapies
770
735
5
%
6
%
Total Kidney Care net sales
$
4,453
$
4,449
0
%
1
%
1 Percent change in net sales at constant currency rates is a non-GAAP financial measure. See the section entitled “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for additional information about our use of that measure.
Kidney Care segment net sales were flat for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the prior year.
Chronic Therapies net sales decreased 1% for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the prior year. Sales performance in the current year was primarily due to lower sales in China, driven by government-based procurement initiatives and the impact of COVID-19 on that country’s renal patient population, and the termination of distribution agreements in the U.S, offset by patient growth in PD, pricing initiatives and recent government tender awards in EMEA. Foreign currency exchange rates adversely impacted net sales by 1% for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the prior year period.
Acute Therapies net sales increased 5% for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the prior year, driven by strong demand for our CRRT offerings. Sales growth in 2023 was adversely impacted by a comparison against a prior year period that included strong COVID-related demand for our CRRT offerings during the first quarter. Foreign currency exchange rates adversely impacted net sales by 1% for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the prior year period.
Percent change
years ended December 31 (in millions)
2022
2021
At actual currency rates
At constant
currency rates 1
Chronic Therapies
$
3,714
$
3,862
(4)
%
2
%
Acute Therapies
735
820
(10)
%
(6)
%
Total Kidney Care net sales
$
4,449
$
4,682
(5)
%
1
%
1 Percent change in net sales at constant currency rates is a non-GAAP financial measure. See the section entitled “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for further information.
Kidney Care segment net sales decreased 5% for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the prior year.
Chronic Therapies sales decreased 4% for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the prior year. The decrease in 2022 was driven by a 6% negative impact from foreign exchange rate changes and non-renewals of certain low margin customer contracts, particularly in Western Europe, partially offset by global patient growth and $28 million of incremental revenue from a customer that did not meet its contractual minimum purchase requirements.
Acute Therapies net sales decreased 10% for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the prior year. The decrease in 2022 was driven by lower COVID-related demand for our CRRT product offerings and a 4% negative impact from foreign exchange rate changes, as compared to the prior year period.
Other
During the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, we earned $87 million, $177 million and $140 million, respectively, of revenues that were not attributable to our reportable segments. In the current and prior year periods, those other sales primarily represent revenues earned by certain of our manufacturing facilities from contract manufacturing activities and royalty income under a business development arrangement. The decrease for the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to the prior year period reflects lower contract manufacturing volume and the termination of the royalty arrangement following our acquisition of the rights to the underlying product in April
42
2023. The increase for the year ended December 31, 2022 as compared to the prior year period was primarily driven by increased contract manufacturing revenue and royalty income from a business development arrangement entered into in March 2022.
Special Items
Management believes that providing the separate impact of the following items on our results in accordance with U.S. GAAP may provide a more complete understanding of our operations and can facilitate a fuller analysis of our results of operations, particularly in evaluating performance from one period to another. Intangible asset amortization expense is identified as a special item to facilitate an evaluation of current and past operating performance and is consistent with how management and our Board of Directors assess performance. Additional special items are identified because they are highly variable, difficult to predict and of a size that may substantially impact our reported results of operations for the period.
43
The following table provides a summary of our special items and the related impact by line item on our consolidated results of operations for 2023, 2022 and 2021.
years ended December 31 (in millions)
2023
2022
2021
Gross Margin
Intangible asset amortization expense
$
(445)
$
(466)
$
(287)
Long-lived asset impairments1
(267)
(344)
—
Business optimization items2
(349)
(28)
(53)
Product-related items3
—
(44)
—
Acquisition and integration items4
(1)
(170)
(50)
European medical devices regulation5
(48)
(48)
(42)
Separation-related costs6
(22)
—
—
Total Special Items
$
(1,132)
$
(1,100)
$
(432)
Impact on Gross Margin Ratio
(7.6 pts)
(7.6 pts)
(3.5 pts)
Selling, General and Administrative (SG&A) Expenses
Intangible asset amortization expense
$
207
$
287
$
11
Business optimization items2
173
194
60
Acquisition and integration items4
18
82
144
Separation-related costs6
203
7
—
Legal matters7
15
—
13
Investigation and related costs8
—
—
31
Total Special Items
$
616
$
570
$
259
Impact on SG&A Expense Ratio
4.1 pts
3.9 pts
2.1 pts
R&D Expenses
Business optimization items2
$
12
$
3
$
1
Total Special Items
$
12
$
3
$
1
Impact on R&D Expense Ratio
0.1 pts
0.1 pts
0.0 pts
Goodwill Impairments
Goodwill impairments1
$
—
$
2,812
$
—
Total Special Items
$
—
$
2,812
$
—
Other Operating Expense (Income), Net
Acquisition and integration items4
$
(19)
$
(39)
$
(6)
Legal matters7
(8)
—
—
Loss on product divestiture arrangement9
—
54
—
Loss on subsidiary liquidation10
—
21
—
Total Special Items
$
(27)
$
36
$
(6)
Interest Expense, Net
Acquisition and integration items4
$
—
$
—
$
48
Total Special Items
$
—
$
—
$
48
Other (Income) Expense, Net
Pension curtailment11
$
—
$
(11)
$
—
Reclassification of cumulative translation loss to earnings12
—
65
—
Investment impairments13
49
—
—
Loss on debt extinguishment14
—
—
5
Total Special Items
$
49
$
54
$
5
Income Tax Expense (Benefit)
Tax matters15
$
4
$
27
$
(54)
Tax effects of special items16
(390)
(400)
(137)
Total Special Items
$
(386)
$
(373)
$
(191)
Impact on Effective Tax Rate
12.0 pts
(19.8 pts)
(7.4 pts)
44
1Our results in 2023 included long-lived asset impairment charges of $267 million related to the HD business within our Kidney Care segment, comprised of (i) a $190 million impairment charge related to certain manufacturing equipment, operating lease right-of-use assets and HD equipment leased to customers and (ii) a $77 million impairment charge related to a developed technology intangible asset. Our results in 2022 included long-lived asset impairment charges related to assets acquired in our December 2021 acquisition of Hillrom, comprised of (i) a $2.81 billion goodwill impairment and (ii) $332 million of indefinite-lived intangible assets. We also recognized $12 million of developed technology intangible asset impairments during 2022. Refer to Notes 4 and 5 in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further information regarding the impairments. Long-lived asset impairments presented within this special item do not include impairments of long-lived assets related to restructuring actions, which are presented within the business optimization special item described in footnote 2 below.
2Our results in 2023 and 2022 were impacted by costs associated with our execution of programs to optimize our organization and cost structure. These restructuring and other business optimization costs included actions related to our current implementation of a new operating model intended to simplify and streamline our operations and better align our manufacturing and supply chain to our commercial activities, our integration of Hillrom, the decision to close one of our U.S.-based manufacturing facilities this year, which resulted in a $243 million noncash impairment of property, plant and equipment, rationalization of certain other manufacturing and distribution facilities and transformation of certain general and administrative functions. Our results in 2023 and 2022 and 2021 included business optimization charges of $534 million, $225 million, $114 million, respectively. Refer to Note 12 in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further information regarding these charges and related liabilities.
3Our results in 2022 included charges of $44 million related to warranty and remediation activities arising from two field corrective actions on certain of our infusion pumps.
4Our results in 2023 included $19 million of integration-related costs, primarily related to our integration of Hillrom, offset by a $19 million benefit from changes in the estimated fair values of contingent consideration liabilities. Our results in 2022 included $213 million of acquisition and integration-related items, which reflected $93 million of integration-related costs and $159 million of incremental cost of sales from the fair value step-ups on acquired Hillrom inventory that was sold in 2022, partially offset by a $39 million benefit from changes in the estimated fair value of contingent consideration liabilities. Our results in 2021 included acquisition, integration and related financing expenses of $236 million. This included acquisition, integration and related financing expenses for our acquisition of Hillrom and the acquisition of the rights to Caelyx and Doxil for specified territories outside of the U.S. These expenses were partially offset by benefits from changes in the estimated fair value of contingent consideration liabilities. Refer to Note 3 in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further information regarding business and asset acquisitions.
5Our results in 2023, 2022 and 2021 included $48 million, $48 million and $42 million, respectively, of incremental costs to comply with the European Union's medical device regulations for previously registered products, which primarily consist of contractor costs and other direct third-party costs. We consider the adoption of these regulations to be a significant one-time regulatory charge and believe that the costs of initial compliance for previously registered products over the implementation period are not indicative of our core operating results.
6Our results in 2023 and 2022 included $225 million and $7 million of separation-related costs, primarily reflecting costs of external advisors supporting our activities to prepare for the proposed spinoff of our Kidney Care segment. We also incurred $17 million and $5 million of additional separation-related costs in 2023 and 2022, respectively, related to the sale of our BPS business that are reported in discontinued operations and are not presented in the table above.
7Our results in 2023 included $7 million of net costs from certain legal matters. These costs included $13 million, including related legal fees, related to matters involving alleged violations of the False Claims Act related to a now-discontinued legacy Hillrom sales line and alleged injury from environmental exposure, partially offset by $6 million of proceeds received, net of related legal fees, from a settlement related to an intellectual property dispute. Our results in 2021 included legal fees of $13 million associated with claimants alleging injuries as a result of proximity to one of our plants.
8Our results in 2021 included charges of $31 million for investigation and related costs for matters associated with our previously announced investigation of foreign exchange gains and losses. Refer to Note 8 in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further information regarding these charges.
9Our results in 2022 included a loss of $54 million under an arrangement to divest certain product rights for an amount that is less than our cost of those product rights, which was triggered by U.S. and European Union regulatory approvals of the related products. Refer to Note 3 in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further information about the related transactions.
10Our results in 2022 included a loss of $21 million related to our deconsolidation of a foreign subsidiary, including the derecognition of a related noncontrolling interest, upon its liquidation in December 2022 that was completed in connection with our legal entity rationalization activities.
11Our results in 2022 included a curtailment gain of $11 million related to an announced change for active non-bargaining participants in our U.S. Hillrom pension plan. Refer to Note 13 in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further information regarding this curtailment gain.
12Our results in 2022 included a charge of $65 million for cumulative translation adjustments (CTA) reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) as a result of the substantial liquidation of our operations in Argentina.
13Our results in 2023 included $49 million of net pre-tax losses from non-marketable investments in several early-stage companies, consisting of $52 million of noncash impairment write-downs, partially offset by a $3 million gain from the sale of an investment.
14Our results in 2021 included a loss of $5 million on the early extinguishment of the $2.40 billion debt assumed as part of the Hillrom acquisition.
15Our results in 2023 included a $5 million net income tax benefit from internal reorganization transactions, primarily related to the proposed spinoff of our Kidney Care segment, and a $9 million valuation allowance to reduce the carrying amount of a deferred tax asset for a tax basis step-up related to previously enacted Swiss tax reform legislation to reflect our current estimate of its recoverability. Our results in 2022 included a $25 million valuation allowance to reduce the carrying amount of a deferred tax asset for a tax basis step-up related to previously enacted Swiss tax reform legislation to reflect our current estimate of its recoverability. Our results in 2021 included a $58 million income tax benefit related to a tax-deductible foreign statutory loss on an investment in a foreign subsidiary and an $18 million income tax benefit related to a change in U.S. foreign tax credit regulations, partially offset by a $22 million income tax expense related to an unfavorable court ruling for an uncertain tax position.
45
16This item reflects the income tax impact of the special items identified in this table. The tax effect of each special item is based on the jurisdiction in which the item was incurred and the tax laws in effect for each such jurisdiction.
COSTS AND EXPENSES
Gross Margin and Expense Ratios
2023
2022
years ended December 31
2023
% of net sales
2022
% of net sales
2021
% of net sales
$ change
% change
$ change
% change
Gross margin
$
4,975
33.6
%
$
5,066
34.9
%
$
4,720
38.9
%
$
(91)
(1.8)
%
$
346
7.3
%
SG&A
$
3,946
26.6
%
$
3,859
26.6
%
$
2,845
23.4
%
$
87
2.3
%
$
1,014
35.6
%
R&D
$
667
4.5
%
$
602
4.2
%
$
531
4.4
%
$
65
10.8
%
$
71
13.4
%
Gross Margin
The gross margin ratio was 33.6%, 34.9% and 38.9% for the years ended 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The special items identified earlier in this section had an unfavorable impact on gross margin ratio of 7.6 percentage points in both 2023 and 2022 and 3.5 percentage points in 2021. Refer to the Special Items caption earlier in this section for additional detail.
Excluding the impact of special items, the gross margin ratio decreased 1.3 percentage points in 2023 compared to 2022 and increased 0.1 percentage points in 2022 compared to 2021. The decrease in 2023 was primarily due to the adverse cost impacts of raw materials inflation driving higher manufacturing costs and higher bonus accruals under our annual employee incentive compensation plans, partially offset by manufacturing initiatives. The increase in 2022 was due to a favorable product mix that was primarily driven by our acquisition of Hillrom, lower bonus accruals under our annual employee incentive compensation plans, lower U.S. customer rebates and $28 million of incremental revenue from a customer that did not meet its contractual minimum purchase requirements, partially offset by raw materials inflation and, to a lesser extent, increased supply chain costs.
SG&A
The SG&A expense ratio was 26.6% in both 2023 and 2022 and 23.4% in 2021. The special items identified earlier in this section had an unfavorable impact on the SG&A expense ratio of 4.1, 3.9 and 2.1 percentage points in 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Refer to the Special Items caption earlier in this section for additional detail.
Excluding the impact of special items, the SG&A expense ratio decreased 0.2 percentage points in 2023 compared to 2022 and increased 1.4 percentage points in 2022 compared to 2021. The decrease in 2023 was primarily due to savings from restructuring actions implemented in recent periods, partially offset by higher bonus accruals under our annual employee incentive compensation plans. The increase in 2022 was primarily due to the acquisition of Hillrom and increased outbound freight costs, partially offset by lower bonus accruals under our annual employee incentive compensation plans.
R&D
The R&D expense ratio was 4.5%, 4.2% and 4.4% for the years ended 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The special items identified earlier in this section had an unfavorable impact on the R&D expense ratio of 0.1 percentage points both in 2023 and 2022 and had no impact on the R&D expense ratio in 2021. Refer to the Special Items caption earlier in this section for additional detail.
Excluding the impact of special items, the R&D expense ratio increased 0.3 percentage points in 2023 compared to 2022 and decreased 0.3 basis points in 2022 compared to 2021. The increase in 2023 was driven by increased project-related expenditures, particularly related to the connected care portfolio in our Healthcare Systems and Technologies segment, and higher bonus accruals under our annual employee incentive compensation plans. The decrease in 2022 reflected lower bonus accruals under our annual employee incentive compensation plans, partially offset by an increase in R&D spend following the Hillrom acquisition.
46
Business Optimization Items
In recent years, we have undertaken actions to transform our cost structure and enhance operational efficiency. These efforts have included restructuring the organization, optimizing our manufacturing footprint, R&D operations and supply chain network, employing disciplined cost management, and centralizing and streamlining certain support functions. The costs of these actions consisted primarily of employee termination costs, implementation costs, contract termination costs and asset impairments.
We incurred restructuring charges of $534 million, $225 million and $114 million in 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. In 2023, $111 million of our restructuring charges, consisting of employee termination costs, were related to the implementation of our previously announced new operating model intended to simplify and streamline our operations. In addition, $267 million of the restructuring charges, consisting of $243 million of long-lived asset impairment charges, $14 million of other asset write-downs and $10 million of employee termination costs, were related to our decision to cease production of dialyzers at one of our manufacturing facilities in connection with our initiatives to streamline our manufacturing footprint and improve our profitability. In 2022, $85 million of our restructuring charges were related to integration activities for the Hillrom acquisition, consisting of $55 million of employee termination costs, $22 million of contract termination and other costs and $8 million of asset impairments. For the year ended December 31, 2021, $37 million and $12 million, respectively, of restructuring charges, consisting of employee termination costs, were related to global programs to simplify and streamline our supply chain and finance functions.
We currently expect to incur additional pre-tax costs, primarily related to the implementation of business optimization programs, of approximately $50 million through the completion of initiatives that are currently underway. We continue to pursue cost savings initiatives and, to the extent further cost savings opportunities are identified, we would incur additional restructuring charges and costs to implement business optimization programs in future periods. Refer to Note 12 in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information regarding our business optimization programs.
Goodwill Impairments
We assess goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment annually during the fourth quarter or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of such assets may not be recoverable. We recognize a goodwill impairment charge for the amount by which a reporting unit's carrying amount exceeds its fair value.
We acquired Hillrom on December 13, 2021 and recognized $6.83 billion of goodwill and $6.03 billion of other intangible assets, including $1.91 billion of indefinite-lived intangible assets, in connection with that acquisition. During the third quarter of 2022, we performed trigger-based impairment tests for each of the reporting units within our Hillrom segment (currently referred to as our Healthcare Systems and Technologies segment), as well as the indefinite-lived intangible assets, consisting primarily of trade names, that we acquired in connection with the Hillrom acquisition. We performed those tests as of September 30, 2022 due to (a) current macroeconomic conditions, including the rising interest rate environment and broad declines in equity valuations, and (b) reduced earnings forecasts for our three Hillrom reporting units, driven primarily by shortages of certain component parts used in our products, raw materials inflation and increased supply chain costs. Those goodwill impairment tests resulted in total pre-tax goodwill impairment charges of $2.79 billion in the third quarter of 2022. In connection with our annual goodwill impairment assessment in the fourth quarter of 2022, we performed quantitative impairment tests for all our reporting units and recorded an additional $27 million goodwill impairment related to our Global Surgical Solutions reporting unit (now combined with our previous Patient Support Systems reporting unit in our Care and Connectivity Solutions reporting unit). No goodwill impairments were recorded for our remaining reporting units in connection with our annual goodwill impairment tests because the fair values of those reporting units exceeded their net book values. Refer to Note 5 in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information regarding these goodwill impairment charges, as well as information about related indefinite-lived intangible asset impairment charges.
Further adverse changes to macroeconomic conditions or our earnings forecasts could lead to additional goodwill or intangible asset impairment charges in future periods and such charges could be material to our results of operations. For further discussion, refer to Item 1A. Risk Factors of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
47
Other Operating Expense (Income), Net
Other operating expense (income), net was income of $28 million in 2023, an expense of $36 million in 2022 and income of $6 million in 2021. The income in 2023 was comprised of gains from changes in the fair values of contingent consideration arrangements and proceeds from a settlement related to an intellectual property dispute. In 2022, we recognized a loss of $54 million under an arrangement to divest certain product rights for an amount that was less than our cost of those product rights, which was triggered by U.S. and European Union regulatory approvals of the related products. Refer to Note 3 in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further information about the related transactions. Additionally, we recognized a loss of $21 million related to the deconsolidation of a foreign subsidiary, including the derecognition of a related noncontrolling interest, upon its liquidation in December 2022 that was completed in connection with our legal entity rationalization activities. Those losses were partially offset by gains of $39 million from net decreases in the estimated fair values of contingent consideration liabilities. In 2021, we recognized $6 million of gains from net decreases in the estimated fair values of contingent consideration liabilities.
Interest Expense, Net
Interest expense, net was $442 million, $395 million and $193 million in 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The increase in 2023 was driven by higher interest rates on our floating rate debt, partially offset by net repayments in the current year periods and higher interest income in 2023. The increase in 2022 was primarily driven by higher average debt outstanding in connection with the Hillrom acquisition, partially offset by acquisition bridge facility commitment fees recognized in 2021 and higher interest income in 2022.
We expect that our net interest expense will decrease in future periods as a result of debt repayments during the fourth quarter of 2023 and planned debt repayments during the first half of 2024 using the proceeds we received from the recent sale of our BPS business. Refer to Note 6 in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a summary of the components of interest expense, net for 2023, 2022 and 2021.
Other (Income) Expense, Net
Other (income) expense, net was expense of $51 million, $12 million and $41 million in 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The net expense in 2023 was primarily driven by foreign exchange losses and non-marketable investment impairments, partially offset by pension and other postretirement benefits (OPEB) and increases in the fair value of marketable equity securities. The net expense in 2022 was primarily due to the reclassification of a cumulative translation loss from accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) to earnings due to the substantial liquidation of our operations in Argentina, partially offset by pension and OPEB benefits, a pension curtailment gain and net increases in the fair value of marketable equity securities. The net expense in 2021 was primarily driven by foreign exchange losses, pension and OPEB costs and a loss on debt extinguishment.
Income Taxes
Our effective income tax rate was 33.0%, (0.2)% and 7.4% in 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The special items identified above impacted our effective tax rate by 12.0 percentage points, (19.8) percentage points and (7.4) percentage points in 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Refer to the Special Items caption earlier in this section for additional detail. Our effective income tax rate can differ from the 21% U.S. federal statutory rate due to a number of factors, including tax incentives, foreign rate differences, state income taxes, non-deductible expenses, non-taxable income, increases or decreases in valuation allowances and liabilities for uncertain tax positions, excess tax benefits or shortfalls on stock compensation awards, audit developments and legislative changes.
For the year ended December 31, 2023, the difference between our effective income tax rate and the U.S. federal statutory rate was impacted favorably by the jurisdictional mix of global earnings, which included the long-lived asset impairments we recognized during 2023, a $50 million net tax benefit after related valuation allowances from notional interest deductions received by certain wholly-owned foreign subsidiaries that have financed their operations with equity capital and a $21 million tax benefit related to research and development tax credits, partially offset by non-deductible separation-related income tax costs and tax shortfalls on stock compensation awards.
For the year ended December 31, 2022, the difference between our effective income tax rate and the U.S. federal statutory rate was primarily attributable to non-deductible impairments of goodwill acquired in the Hillrom acquisition
48
and valuation allowance increases, including a $25 million increase related to deferred tax assets from a tax basis step-up related to previously enacted Swiss tax legislation. Those items were partially offset by a $47 million net tax benefit after related valuation allowances from notional interest deductions.
For the year ended December 31, 2021, the difference between our effective income tax rate and the U.S. federal statutory rate was primarily attributable to favorable geographic earnings mix, a $50 million net tax benefit after related valuation allowances from notional interest deductions, a $58 million tax benefit related to a tax-deductible foreign statutory loss on an investment in a foreign subsidiary, a tax benefit related to a change in U.S. foreign tax credit regulations and excess tax benefits on stock compensation awards, partially offset by an unfavorable court decision in a foreign jurisdiction related to an uncertain tax position.
Our tax provisions for 2023, 2022 and 2021 did not include any significant tax charges related to either the Base Erosion and Anti-Abuse Tax (BEAT) or Global Intangible Low Taxed Income (GILTI) provisions, except for the inability to fully utilize foreign tax credits against such GILTI. Our accounting policy is to recognize any GILTI charge as a period cost.
Discontinued Operations
On September 29, 2023, we completed the sale of our BPS business and received cash proceeds of $3.96 billion from that transaction. The financial position, results of operations and cash flows of our BPS business, including our gain from the sale of that business and the related cash proceeds received, are reported as discontinued operations in the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Income from discontinued operations, net of tax, was $2.73 billion, $233 million and $262 million in 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The increase in the current year period was primarily driven by the $2.88 billion pre-tax gain from the sale of the BPS business ($2.59 billion net of tax). Excluding that gain on sale, pre-tax income from discontinued operations decreased by $90 million in 2023 compared to 2022, which was primarily driven by there being only nine months of activity through the sale of the business on September 29, 2023, lower sales from contract manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines and increased SG&A expenses in the current year period from separation-related costs. Pre-tax income from discontinued operations decreased by $64 million in 2022 compared to 2021, which was primarily driven by lower sales from contract manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines. Refer to Note 2 in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information.
Net Income (Loss) and Earnings (Loss) per Diluted Share
Net income (loss) for the total company, including discontinued operations, was income of $2.66 billion in 2023, loss of $2.42 billion in 2022 and income of $1.30 billion in 2021. Diluted earnings (loss) per share for the total company, including discontinued operations, was $5.25 per share in 2023, $(4.83) per share in 2022 and $2.53 per share in 2021. The significant factors and events causing the net changes from 2022 to 2023 and from 2021 to 2022 are discussed above. Additionally, earnings (loss) per share was positively impacted by the repurchase of 0.5 million shares in 2022 through Rule 10b5-1 purchase plans. Refer to Note 9 in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further information regarding our stock repurchases.
49
SEGMENT OPERATING INCOME (LOSS)
The following is a summary of operating income for our reportable segments.
Download
