Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. is an American holding company headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, that owns Walgreens, Boots, and a number of pharmaceutical manufacturing, wholesale, and distribution companies. The company was formed on December 31, 2014, after Walgreens purchased the 55% stake in UK and Switzerland-based Alliance Boots that it did not already own. The total price of the acquisition was $4.9 billion in cash and 144.3 million common shares with fair value of $10.7 billion.[2] Walgreens had previously purchased 45% of the company for $4.0 billion and 83.4 million common shares in August 2012 with an option to purchase the remaining shares within three years.[3] Walgreens became a subsidiary of the newly created company after the transactions were completed.[4] As of 2020, Walgreens Boots Alliance is ranked #19 on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.[5]
The company is organized into three divisions: Retail Pharmacy USA (Walgreens and Duane Reade), Retail Pharmacy International (Boots and other retail operations internationally), and Pharmaceutical Wholesale, incorporating Alliance Healthcare.[6] The new holding company began trading on the NASDAQ on December 31, 2014.[7]
The combined business has operations in over 25 countries. Walgreens had formerly operated solely within the United States and its territories, while Alliance Boots operated a more international business.
In October 2020, Walgreens Boots Alliance published its fourth quarter earnings report. Fiscal year 2020 sales were $139.5 billion, up 2.5% from fiscal 2019, and net earnings decreased to $456 million.[1]
On June 26, 2018, Walgreens Boots Alliance replaced General Electric on the Dow Jones Industrial Index.[8][9]
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walgreens_Boots_Alliance
