Walgreens Boots Alliance

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc.
Company typePublic
IndustryRetail and pharmaceuticals
Predecessors
FoundedDecember 31, 2014; 9 years ago (2014-12-31)
Headquarters
Deerfield, Illinois
,
U.S.
Number of locations
12,712 (2024)
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
RevenueIncrease US$147.7 billion (2024)
Decrease US$–14.1 billion (2024)
Decrease US$–8.64 billion (2024)
Total assetsDecrease US$81.04 billion (2024)
Total equityDecrease US$12.01 billion (2024)
OwnerStefano Pessina (16%)
Number of employees
312,000 (2024)
Divisions
Websitewalgreensbootsalliance.com
Footnotes / references
Financials as of August 31, 2024.[1]

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) is an American multinational holding company headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois,[2] which owns the retail pharmacy chains Walgreens in the US and Boots in the UK, as well as several pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution companies. The company was formed on December 31, 2014, after Walgreens bought the 55% stake in 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.[3] 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.[4] Walgreens became a subsidiary of the newly created company after the transactions were completed.[5] As of 2022, Walgreens Boots Alliance is ranked #18 on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.[6]

In fiscal year 2022, the company saw sales of $132.7 billion, up 0.1% from fiscal 2021, and saw net earnings increase to $4.3 billion. The combined business has operations in 9 countries, as of August 31, 2022. Walgreens had formerly operated solely within the United States and its territories, while Alliance Boots operated a more multinational business.[7]

The company began trading on the Nasdaq in its inception, under the symbol WBA.[8] On June 26, 2018, Walgreens Boots Alliance replaced General Electric on the Dow Jones Industrial Index.[9][10] Walgreens Boots Alliance was subsequently replaced by Amazon on the Dow Jones Industrial Index on February 26, 2024. The company is also a component of the S&P 500 index; it was formerly a Nasdaq-100 company until 2024.

  1. ^ "FY 2024 Annual Report (Form 10-K)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. October 15, 2024.
  2. ^ Sadin, S., Walgreens Boots Alliance, Chicago Tribune, published 16 April 2015, accessed 12 May 2023
  3. ^ "Walgreens Boots Alliance, Form 8-K12B, Filing Date Dec 31, 2014". secdatabase.com. Archived from the original on May 12, 2018. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  4. ^ "Walgreens Boots Alliance, Form 10-Q, Quarterly Report, Filing Date Dec 30, 2014". secdatabase.com. Archived from the original on May 12, 2018. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  5. ^ "Walgreens Boots Alliance, Form S-4/A, Filing Date Nov 18, 2014". secdatabase.com. Archived from the original on May 12, 2018. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  6. ^ "Fortune 500". fortune.com. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
  7. ^ "Form 10-K" (PDF). October 13, 2022.
  8. ^ Linnane, Ciara (December 31, 2014). "Walgreen ticker changes to WBA after merger with Boots Alliance". Market Watch. Archived from the original on December 31, 2014. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
  9. ^ "GE Says Goodbye to the Dow". NASDAQ.com. June 20, 2018. Archived from the original on June 21, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  10. ^ LaVito, Angelica (June 19, 2018). "GE booted from the Dow, to be replaced by Walgreens". CNBC. Archived from the original on October 28, 2019. Retrieved October 28, 2019.