Consumer giant Kimberly-Clark, which makes Huggies diapers and Kleenex tissues, is buying the company that makes Tylenol and Band-Aids in one of the biggest mergers of the year.
The deal, worth almost $49 billion, comes at a particularly difficult time for Tylenol-maker Kenvue, after the Trump administration linked acetaminophen — the active ingredient in this common painkiller — to autism. The assertions came despite a lack of clear scientific evidence, and Kenvue has called them simply false.
For Kimberly-Clark, the deal adds a new swath of consumer brands. Besides Tylenol, Kenvue also owns other pharmacy mainstays such as Band-Aid, Listerine, Neutrogena and Aveeno.
Kimberly-Clark CEO Mike Hsu said in Monday's announcement, that the two "iconic companies" would create "a global health and wellness leader."
Executives from both companies said the combined entity would serve people "at every stage of life" and benefit from Kenvue's relationships with dermatologists, dentists, pediatricians and other healthcare professionals.
Kimberly-Clark has been attempting to challenge the dominance of consumer goliath Procter & Gamble, whose business spans all drugstore aisles, including cold and digestion medicines.
And Kenvue has been on the selling block for a while now, ever since it was spun off from Johnson & Johnson in 2023. Its share price collapsed a few months after going public, losing a third of its value since the start of the year before Monday's news.
On Monday morning, Kenvue's stock price jumped around 17%, while Kimberly-Clark's fell about 12%.
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