Kimberly-Clark to buy Tylenol maker Kenvue in landmark $40bn merger | Business

Kleenex and Huggies maker Kimberly-Clark unveiled plans to purchase Kenvue, the embattled client well being conglomerate behind Tylenol, in a landmark deal for greater than $40bn.The blockbuster takeover comes weeks after Donald Trump claimed Tylenol heightens the danger of autism in kids when it’s utilized by pregnant ladies, an assertion hotly contested by scientists and contradicted by research.The high-profile claims compounded months of struggles for Kenvue, which ousted its CEO in July and endured sharp inventory market declines.Kenvue, which additionally makes Listerine mouthwash, Neutrogena skincare merchandise and Johnson’s child oil, was spun out of Johnson & Johnson two years in the past. Its shares jumped 17% on Monday morning, whereas Kimberly-Clark dropped 12% in New York.“We’re excited to deliver collectively two iconic corporations to create a world well being and wellness chief,” Mike Hsu, Kimberly-Clark chairman and CEO, stated in a press release. Larry Merlo, Kenvue’s chairman, claimed the deal would create a “uniquely positioned world chief in client well being with a broader vary of recent progress alternatives forward”.Final week, the US well being and human providers secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, acknowledged that there was no proof proving Tylenol causes autism, however repeated his view that indicators of a hyperlink between the 2 have been “very suggestive”.Aside from sure looming litigations towards Tylenol, Kenvue can be going through lawsuits over claims that its child powder merchandise triggered most cancers, dampening investor sentiment.Nonetheless, Kimberly-Clark stated it anticipated about $2.1bn in annual value financial savings from the acquisition, which it expects to shut within the second half of 2026.Kenvue has tried to push again exhausting towards the Trump administration’s claims about acetaminophen, normally branded as Tylenol.“We imagine impartial, sound science clearly exhibits that taking acetaminophen doesn’t trigger autism,” the agency stated in a press release following Trump and Kennedy’s first announcement in September. “We strongly disagree with allegations that it does and are deeply involved concerning the well being dangers and confusion this poses for anticipating moms and fogeys.”Alongside Monday’s announcement, Kenvue reported that its internet gross sales fell 3.5% within the final quarter, and warned they’d fall by the low single digits over the course of the 12 months.Kimberly-Clark, primarily based in Irving, Texas, which owns bathroom paper manufacturers together with Andrex and Cottonelle, can be navigating a client items surroundings more and more fraught with a extra value-seeking shopper, forcing corporations, together with sector bellwether Procter & Gamble to put money into smaller pack sizes, and trim underperforming enterprise models. Trump’s aggressive tariff technique has additionally heightened challenges for the broader trade.Kimberly-Clark offered a majority stake in its worldwide tissue enterprise to the Brazilian pulp maker Suzano as a part of a restructuring, proceeds from that are anticipated to assist the Kenvue buyout, the corporate stated on Monday.Reuters contributed reporting