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BUSINESSFriday 22 May 2015
CVS paying $10.4B in cash for drug distributor Omnicare
TOM MURPHY assisted living and skilled cost. Insurers and other bill Cincinnati-based Omni- 65 and older will approach
AP Business Writer nursing homes, long-term payers want help contain- care’s core business in- 84 million people by 2050,
CVS Health will pay more care facilities, hospitals and ing that expense. volves distributing drugs nearly double its total in
than $10 billion for phar- other care providers. Omni- Specialty drug revenue and providing pharmacy 2012, due largely to the
maceutical distributor Om- care’s long-term care busi- soared 46 percent for CVS services to long-term care aging baby-boom genera-
nicare in a deal primed to ness operates in 47 states Health in the first quar- providers, a market CVS tion.
feed its fast-growing spe- and the District of Colum- ter, helping the company Health doesn’t currently Merlo noted that older
cialty drug business and bia. trump analyst expectations serve. people are more likely to
tap a lucrative and grow- The deal also will bring in and make up for a sales hit CVS Health CEO Larry Mer- take several medications
ing market: care for the el- more business doling out from its decision to stop sell- lo told analysts that repre- and can have trouble mak-
derly. specialty drugs. These com- ing tobacco products last sents a “substantial growth ing sure their prescriptions
The acquisition announced plex and expensive medi- year in its drugstores. CVS opportunity” for his compa- follow them as they move
Thursday will give one cations for cancer, hepati- Health also runs the na- ny, with the U.S. population from their own home to
of the biggest U.S. phar- tis C and other conditions tion’s second largest drug- aging. long-term care or other set-
macy benefits managers can represent treatment store chain, trailing only U.S. Census Bureau re- tings. He believes his com-
national reach in dispens- breakthroughs but are rais- Wagreens Boots Alliance searchers have predicted pany can help ease these
ing prescription drugs to ing growing concerns over Inc. that the population age transitions.q
Wall Street hits record as rising oil boosts energy sector
Shopify CFO Russ Jones, center, rings a ceremonial bell as the Canadian company’s IPO begins its benchmark interest rate gainers, jumping after the
trading, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, May 21, 2015. The stock market close to zero for more than company reported strong
eked out another record close on Thursday as rising oil prices boosted energy stocks. six years. That’s been a earnings. The electronics
good backdrop for stocks. retailer said sales of mobile
(AP Photo/Richard Drew) On the other hand, if the phones, big televisions and
economy fails to pick up major appliances helped
STEVE ROTHWELL porting earnings that ex- ket’s gains this week have sufficiently, corporate earn- sales, offsetting weakness
AP Markets Writer ceeded the expectations been modest. ings will suffer. That would in tablets and computers.
NEW YORK (AP) — The stock of Wall Street analysts. Lum- On the one hand, signs that hurt stocks. Also, after a six- Its stock jumped $1.33, or
market eked out another ber Liquidators, a specialty the economy is flagging year bull market, stocks are 3.9 percent, to $35.11.
record close on Thursday retailer of hardwood floor- suggest that the Federal no longer cheap. Lumber Liquidators fell
as rising oil prices boosted ing, plunged after its CEO Reserve will likely refrain “At this point, there’s a sharply after CEO Robert
energy stocks. abruptly quit the company. from raising rates until later bit of a wait-and-see atti- Lynch abruptly resigned.
Best Buy was among the Stocks are trading at re- in the year at the earliest. tude,” said Stephen Freed- The company is embroiled
biggest gainers after re- cord levels, but the mar- The central bank has kept man, head of cross-asset in an investigation over
strategy at UBS Wealth products imported from
Management. “There’s China after the CBS news
uncertainty about the Fed show “60 Minutes” first re-
and there’s uncertainty ported in March that some
about the growth outlook of its flooring contained
in the U.S.” The Standard high levels of the carcino-
& Poor’s closed up 4.97 gen formaldehyde, a dan-
points, or 0.2 percent, at gerous chemical.
2,130.82. The Dow Jones in- The company’s stock
dustrial average edged up dropped $4.17, or 16.5 per-
0.34 point to 18,285.74. The cent, to $21.10.
Nasdaq composite rose In energy trading, the price
19.05 points, or 0.4 percent, of oil rose sharply for the
to 5,090.79. Trading vol- second day in a row on
ume was lower than aver- a decline in the value of
age ahead of the Memo- the dollar, which made oil,
rial Day holiday in the U.S. which is priced in dollars,
on Monday. Best Buy was more attractive to over-
among the day’s biggest seas buyers.q
Hewlett-Packard sells stake in Chinese unit for $2.3B
MAE ANDERSON billion to Tsinghua Holdings, drive even greater innova- vices from companies like China, including busi-
AP Technology Writer part of state-owned Tsing- tion for China, in China.” Symantec and IBM over ness services, software, HP
NEW YORK (AP) — Hewlett- hua University. The sale will Analysts have noted that the past few years. Helion Cloud and other op-
Packard is selling a control- create a partnership to be the Chinese government Cantor Fitzgerald analyst erations.
ling stake in its China server called H3C. has been increasingly re- Brian White said in a note to “We believe the deal (with
and storage unit, a move HP said the move will ac- strictive about internation- clients that the partnership Tsinghua) will help HP be-
that comes as the Chinese celerate growth in the al tech companies amid is a positive step for HP “in come more competitive
government, apparently country.“HP is making a growing concerns that the light of the growing back- in the China market given
worried about U.S. cyber- bold move to win in today’s U.S. has been spying on lash against U.S. IT compa- the recent Chinese gov-
spying, has encouraged China,” said CEO Meg China remotely. Although nies selling into China that ernment preference to
the use of local companies. Whitman. “Partnering with no official restrictions have has further accelerated purchase technology from
HP said Thursday it will sell Tsinghua, one of China’s been confirmed, some big sharply in recent months.” local vendors,” said Wells
the 51 percent stake in most respected institutions, companies in China have HP will maintain ownership Fargo analyst Maynard Um
the business for about $2.3 the new H3C will be able to stopped using U.S. tech ser- of its other businesses in in a research note.q
