It’s finally complete. GE Healthcare is now a standalone company. The firm is now trading on Nasdaq after spinning off from General Electric, its parent company.

The company is now trading on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol “GEHC.”

GE Healthcare’s spin-off is part of a plan to break GE into three separate companies.  GE will combine its renewable energy, power, and digital businesses into a separate company in a second spin-off slated for 2024. The remaining GE business will focus on aviation.

GE Healthcare is being led by Peter Arduini. He stepped down from his role as CEO at Integra LifeSciences to assume the position of president and CEO at GE Healthcare.

“We are on the verge of true industry transformation as digital innovation reshapes the experience of patients and providers with an increased need for more precise, connected, and efficient care, Arduini said in a release. “GE HealthCare colleagues worldwide are united in our purpose to create a world where healthcare has no limits, and we look forward to delivering for providers, patients, and shareholders in the years ahead.”

GE HealthCare has some impressive stats at launch. The company has a presence in more than 160 countries and about 51,000 employees worldwide serving more than one billion patients a year. GE Healthcare generates about $18 billion in revenue, with an installed base including more than 4 million pieces of equipment across its four business segments – Imaging, Ultrasound, Patient Care Solutions, and Pharmaceutical Diagnostics.

The company said it expects its addressable markets will expand from $84 billion in 2021 to $102 billion by 2025. That expansion provides significant opportunities for growth and execution of the Company’s precision care strategy to safely and securely integrate patient data from imaging, lab, pathology, genomics, and other sources.

Talks of GE Healthcare spinning off began nearly  five years ago. The rationale behind the spin-off plans in 2018 was to allow GE to focus more on its industrial offerings. However, those plans were scrapped in early 2019, when GE sold its pharmaceutical unit to Danaher for $21 billion.

The Spin is In

In early 2021 on an episode of the Let’s Talk Medtech podcast, EY’s John Babitt said that the spin was in referring to the growing number of spinoffs in the medical device industry.

Outside of GE, one of the biggest spinouts announced in 2021 was Johnson & Johnson. The New Brunswick, NJ-based company announced it was splitting its consumer products business from its medical device and pharmaceutical businesses.

Other notable spinoffs include Zimmer Biomet’s ZimVie; 3M and its healthcare unit, and Becton Dickinson’s Embecta, which won Reader’s Choice for Company of the Year.

Most recently, Medtronic announced plans to spin off its patient monitoring and respiratory interventions businesses into a new company.