Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. is an American-British-Swiss holding company headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois that owns the retail pharmacy chains Walgreens and Boots, as well as several pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution companies. The company was formed on December 31, 2014, after Walgreens purchased 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.[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 2022, Walgreens Boots Alliance is ranked #18 on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.[5]
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.[6]
The company began trading on the NASDAQ on December 31, 2014 under the symbol WBA.[7] On June 26, 2018, Walgreens Boots Alliance replaced General Electric on the Dow Jones Industrial Index.[8][9] The company is also a component of the Nasdaq-100, the S&P 100 and the S&P 500 indices.
Retail Pharmacy USA
Walgreens and Duane Reade operate within the Retail Pharmacy USA division of Walgreens Boots Alliance. Both businesses sell prescription and non-prescription drugs, and a range of household items, including personal care and beauty products. Walgreens provides access to consumer goods and services, plus pharmacy, photo department, health and wellness services in the United States through its retail drugstores. The division has 9,021 drugstores as of August 31, 2020.[10] Walgreens runs, or ran,[vague] several online stores, such as: Beauty.com, Drugstore.com, VisionDirect.com, and Walgreens.com.[citation needed]
Walgreens has stores in all 50 US states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
On October 27, 2015, Walgreens announced the purchase of competitor Rite Aid for $17.2 billion.[11] However, that deal was later scrapped due to antitrust concerns in favor of a $5.18 billion deal, in which Walgreens only acquired half of Rite Aid locations.[12]
On September 19, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved a fourth deal agreement to purchase 1,932 Rite Aid stores for $4.38 billion total, a transaction which was completed in January 2018. [13]
Retail Pharmacy International
Boots forms the main part of the Retail Pharmacy International division of the company. The Boots brand has a history stretching back over 170 years[14] in the United Kingdom (UK) and is a familiar sight on Britain’s high streets.[15] Stores are located in prominent high street and city center locations as well as in local communities. Most branches include a pharmacy and focus on healthcare, personal care, and cosmetic products, with most stores selling over-the-counter medicines. Larger stores typically offer a variety of healthcare services in addition to dispensing prescriptions, and chlamydia testing and treatment (private service). Optician services are also offered in many larger stores, with Boots Opticians providing eye tests along with the sale of spectacles and contact lenses. Many stores also feature traditional photo processing and/or a Cewe picture kiosk where users of digital cameras and camera phones can create prints via Bluetooth, USB, or CD. Larger stores usually offer a range of electrical equipment such as hairdryers, curlers, and foot massagers, while selected stores offer a range of sandwiches, baguettes, wraps, salads, and beverages.
Since 1936, there have been Boots stores outside the UK. Stores in countries as widely spread as New Zealand, Canada (see Pharma Plus), and France were all closed in the 1980s. As of 2022 there are Boots-branded stores outside the UK in Ireland and Thailand with Boots franchise operations in the Middle East and Indonesia. [16]
The remainder of the division is made up of the pharmacies Benavides in Mexico and Farmacias Ahumada (FASA) in Chile.[16]