McKesson Corporation is an American publicly traded company that distributes pharmaceuticals and provides health information technology, medical supplies, and health management tools. The company delivers a third of all pharmaceutical products used or consumed in North America and employs over 80,000 employees. With $308.9 billion in 2024 revenue, it is the ninth-largest company by revenue in the United States and the nation's largest health care company. The company is headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is a component of the S&P 500 and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, where it is traded under the ticker symbol "MCK".
McKesson provides extensive network of infrastructure for the healthcare industry and was an early adopter of technologies, including barcode scanning for distribution, pharmacy robotics, and RFID tags. The company has been named in a federal lawsuit for profiting from the opioid epidemic in the United States.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, McKesson was a key vaccine distributor, serving as the US government's centralized distributor for hundreds of millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses and ancillary supply kits for over a billion doses.
History
19th century McKesson was founded in 1828 in New York City as Charles M. Olcott by Charles M. Olcott. It was later renamed Olcott, McKesson & Co. and John McKesson in 1833.McKesson & Robbins, First Aid In Emergencies, 1930, p. 63. The business began as an importer and wholesaler of botanical drugs. A third partner, Daniel Robbins, who joined the enterprise as it grew, and who previously "was an assistant to the original partners", was the "Robbins" when the company was renamed McKesson & Robbins following Olcott's death in 1853.
20th century
In 1938, the company was involved in the McKesson and Robbins scandal under CEO Phillip Musica. It was one of the most notorious business and accounting scandals of the 20th century, a watershed event that led to major changes in American auditing standards and securities regulations after being exposed in 1938. It was found that one fourth of the $86,556,270 assets of the company was just figures recorded to keep McKesson looking profitable while Musica, who was posing as F. Donald Coster, and his brothers stole the funds. The company was able to weather the crisis after an equity receivership.Baldwin, W. H., & Beach, B. S. (1940). McKesson & Robbins: A Study in Confidence. The Public Opinion Quarterly, 4(2), pp. 305–310.
In 1967, Foremost Dairies, a company founded by James Cash Penney, which was headquartered in San Francisco since 1954, acquired McKesson & Robbins in a hostile takeover[Everybody's Business 1st edition (Milton Moskowitz, Michael Katz, Robert Levering, editors) Harper & Row, 1980 page 815] to form Foremost-McKesson Inc. The Foremost dairy operations were sold in 1982 and the name changed to McKesson Corporation but headquarters remained in San Francisco.
In 1999, McKesson acquired medical information systems firm HBO & Company (HBOC). The combined firm operated as McKessonHBOC for two years. Accounting irregularities at HBOC reduced the company's share price by half and resulted in the dismissal and prosecution of many HBOC executives.
21st century
In 2001, the company's name reverted to McKesson. In the early 21st century, McKesson increased its market in medical technology through acquisitions, including Per Se Technologies and RelayHealth in 2006 and Practice Partner in 2007. On January 6, 2006, McKesson acquired NDCHealth Corporation.
In 2010, McKesson acquired the oncology and physician services company US Oncology, Inc. for $2.16 billion, which was integrated into the McKesson Specialty Health business. In April 2012, McKesson agreed to pay the United States $190M to settle allegations that it had inflated prices and overbilled Medicaid. Three months later, in July 2012, McKesson agreed to pay California and 28 other states $151M to settle allegations that it had inflated prices and overbilled Medicaid.
On June 24, 2013, The Wall Street Journal reported that McKesson Chairman and CEO John Hammergren's pension benefits of $159 million had set a record for "the largest pension on file for a current executive of a public company, and almost certainly the largest ever in corporate America". In 2013, PSS World Medical was acquired. In 2014, McKesson acquired Celesio to become one of the world's largest healthcare companies, with over $179 billion in annual revenue. In June 2016, McKesson announced plans to merge its IT business with Change Healthcare.
In 2017, McKesson was involved in many lawsuits against the state of Arkansas over the supply of vecuronium bromide. McKesson was under contract by Pfizer not to sell to any correctional facility that authorized and carried out capital punishment.
In November 2018, the company announced it would relocate its headquarters from San Francisco to Irving, Texas, effective April 1, 2019. Also in April 2019, Brian Tyler took over as CEO of the company.
In February 2020, McKesson Corp announced that it would part ways with Change Healthcare. McKesson gave up its ownership in the company and its three seats on the company's board of directors. In February 2025, the McKesson Corporation signed a definitive agreement to acquire 80% interest in PRISM Vision Holdings.
In August 2026, the company was hacked by ShinyHunters.
Opioid epidemic
In 2008, McKesson paid $13 million in fines for failing to report large orders of hydrocodone.
In January 2017, McKesson agreed to pay a $150 million civil penalty for alleged similar violations of the Controlled Substances Act regarding the distribution of opioids and another $150M to settle allegations that it had not done enough to track and stop suspicious opioid sales. The agreement also obligated McKesson to suspend all sales of controlled substances from its distribution centers in Colorado, Florida, Ohio, and Michigan for multiple years.
In May 2020, Attorney General of Oklahoma Michael J. Hunter sued McKesson in Bryan County District Court, alleging that the company's actions helped fuel Oklahoma's opioid crisis. The suit was filed along with lawsuits against Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen, and the three lawsuits allege that the three companies provided "enough opioids to Bryan County that every adult resident there could have had 144 hydrocodone tablets."
In January 2022, McKesson, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay $26 billion to settle with all but five of the states suing them. Had the states gone to court, the companies could have faced up to $95 billion in penalties.
COVID-19 pandemic In August 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the CDC and HHS selected McKesson as the US government's centralized distributor for COVID-19 vaccine doses and ancillary supply kits under Operation Warp Speed. The company has played a key role in distributing the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines while also distributing ancillary supply kits for these as well as for the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine across the US (in addition to supporting the US government in efforts to send doses and kits abroad).
Finances For the fiscal year 2023, McKesson reported earnings of US$3.56 billion on revenue of US$276.711 billion. McKesson was the nation's largest health care company and the ninth-largest company by total revenue on the Fortune 500. Year Revenue(US$M) Net income(US$M) Total assets(US$M) Price per share(US$) Employees 2005 79,096 −157 18,775 36.41 2006 86,983 751 20,961 44.00 2007 92,977 913 23,943 51.66 2008 101,703 990 24,603 45.79 2009 106,632 823 25,267 43.23 2010 108,702 1,263 28,189 57.52 32,500 2011 112,084 1,202 30,886 71.40 32,500 2012 122,321 1,403 33,093 80.91 36,400 2013 122,196 1,338 34,786 113.59 43,500 2014 137,392 1,263 51,759 173.29 42,800 2015 179,045 1,476 53,870 198.26 70,400 2016 190,884 2,258 56,523 156.90 68,000 2017 198,533 5,070 60,969 141.87 78,000 2018 208,357 67 60,381 132.29 78,000 2019 214,319 34 59,672 127.96 80,000 2020 231,051 900 61,247 148.34 80,000 2021 238,228 −4,539 65,015 195.88 76,000 2022 263,966 1,114 63,298 325.94 75,000 2023 276,711 3,560 62,320 405.02 51,0002024308,9513,00267,44351,0002025359,0513,29575,14045,0002026403,4304,76282,32343,000
Divisions
McKesson Provider Technologies McKesson Provider Technologies is the retail name for McKesson Technology Solutions; the software development division of McKesson. Their customer base in the United States includes 50% of all health systems, 20% of all physician practices, 25% of home care agencies, and 77% of health systems with more than 200 beds.
On June 20, 2005, McKesson Provider Technologies acquired Medcon, Ltd., an Israeli company which provides web-based cardiac image and information management solutions for heart centers, that includes: diagnostic digital image management, archiving, procedure reporting, and workflow management.
In October 2013, McKesson agreed to buy a 50% stake in Germany-based Celesio for $8.3 billion.
McKesson Medical Supplies and Equipment
McKesson Medical-Surgical (MMS) offers a large selection of national healthcare brands, along with McKesson's exclusive brand of medical products. Their online medical supply ordering platform serves the needs of physician offices, surgery centers, home health agencies, DMEs, labs, and long-term-care facilities. In 2015, McKesson Medical-Surgical opened its new headquarters in Richmond, Virginia. In May of 2025, McKesson announced it was planning to spin off its medical-surgical supplies unit into an independent company.
Health Mart pharmacy franchise
Health Mart, a network of over 4,000 independently owned and operated pharmacies, is a wholly owned subsidiary of McKesson Corporation, which owns the name "Health Mart". McKesson acquired Health Mart owner FoxMeyer in October 1996.
Former divisions Mosswood Wine Company
McKesson operated the Mosswood Wine Company from 1978 until 1987 when the division was sold to maintain its focus on pharmaceuticals. The division was founded and run by wine writer Gerald Asher.
NDCHealth (Relay Health) NDC (from the initials of its former identity as National Data Corporation) became NDC-Health Corp in 2001 following the spin-off of its payments division, Global Payments, in 2000. NDCHealth was acquired by McKesson in 2007 through the purchase of Per-Se Technologies at which time it began doing business as RelayHealth in 2007.
International
McKesson Canada
In 1991, McKesson Corporation acquired a 100 percent interest in Medis Health and Pharmaceutical Services from Provigo. In 2002, the McKesson Canada name was adopted. McKesson Canada is a wholly owned subsidiary of McKesson Corporation. It includes various business units: McKesson Pharmaceutical, McKesson Automation, McKesson Specialty, McKesson Health Solutions, and McKesson Information Solutions.
In 2012, McKesson agreed to purchase Canadian pharmacy chains IDA, Guardian Pharmacy, and The Medicine Shoppe from the Katz Group of Companies for $920 million.
In March 2016, McKesson agreed to purchase Canadian pharmacy chain Rexall from the Katz Group of Companies for $3 billion. The deal was finalized in December 2016 following approval received under the Investment Canada Act.
On April 12, 2017, it was announced that McKesson Canada reached a deal to acquire 330 Uniprix pharmacies.
In May 2018, McKesson Canada closed 40 Rexall locations in Ontario and Western Canada.
In December 2024, McKesson Canada sold Rexall to Birch Hill Equity.
United Kingdom