Henry Schein, Inc. is an American distributor of health care products and services with a presence in 32 countries. The company is a Fortune World's Most Admired Company and is ranked number one in its industry for social responsibility by Fortune magazine. Ethisphere named Henry Schein as one of the 2023 World's Most Ethical Companies for the 12th consecutive year.
History
In 1932, Henry Schein, a graduate of Columbia University College of Pharmacy, borrowed $500 and opened a pharmacy in Queens, New York. The company expanded into dental supplies in the 1960s, and by the late 1980s, Henry Schein held approximately 10 percent of the dental-supply market. Marvin Schein, Henry Schein's son, took over management of daily operations in 1971.
In 1978, founder Henry Schein's son Jay Schein became CEO of the company. When Jay Schein died of cancer in 1989, Stanley Bergman took over as CEO. Bergman was born in South Africa and came to New York in 1976, where he became an accountant. In 1980, he joined Henry Schein and was promoted to CFO.
Henry Schein Inc. filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 1995 to sell 6.2 million shares in an initial public offering with William Blair & Company as the lead underwriter. The IPO raised $72.8 million and began trading on the Nasdaq. By 1996, the company was up to $1.4 billion in sales and $29 million in profit under Bergman's leadership. That year, the company made seventeen acquisitions.
In August 1997, Henry Schein Inc. agreed to buy Sullivan Dental Products Inc. for approximately $318 million. The purchase made the company the world's largest distributor of dental equipment and supplies. By that point, Henry Schein had made 16 acquisitions in 1997. Also in 1997, Henry Schein acquired New York-based medical-products distributor Micro BioMedics Inc as well as Dentrix Dental Systems.
Henry Schein announced the acquisition of demedis GmbH and Euro Dental Holding GmbH in June 2004. In November 2009, it was announced that Henry Schein Inc. and Butler Animal Health Supply would be launching joint venture Butler Schein Animal Health, the largest veterinary sales and distribution company in the United States. Butler Schein Animal Health was rebranded as Henry Schein Animal Health in 2013. Between 1989 and 2016, Henry Schein purchased approximately 200 companies. The company's chief executive officer, Stanley Bergman, was announced as Chief Executive Magazine's CEO of the Year in May 2017.
In 2018, the FTC accused Benco Dental, Patterson Companies, and Henry Schein of violating antitrust laws. In October 2019, the FTC’s Chief Administrative Law Judge dismissed the claims against Henry Schein while finding that Benco and Patterson violated U.S. antitrust laws.
In February 2019, Henry Schein spun off the company's animal health business and merged it with Vets First Choice to form a new company. The new company is established as Covetrus.
Henry Schein Inc. was one of the six main defendants in lawsuits with state and local governments of the opioid epidemic in the United States. The company was dismissed as a defendant in October 2019 in the bellwether Summit County, Ohio litigation.
In May 2022, Henry Schein announced a donation of $200,000 in health care products to the Howard University of Dentistry and Meharry Medical College of Dentistry in order to Support their efforts to provide free oral health to the underserved through their student outreach programs.
In July 2022, Henry Schein acquired Condor Dental, a dental distribution company.
In April 2023, Henry Schein acquired Biotech Dental, a provider of dental implants, clear aligners, and digital dental software, based in Salon-de-Provence, France. Henry Schein launched its Practice Green initiative the same month, which seeks to encourage U.S. and Canada healthcare professionals to transition towards sustainable practices.
In July 2023, Henry Schein acquired S.I.N Implant System, a major provider of dental implants in Brazil.
Operations
Dental
In 1997, Henry Schein acquired Sullivan Dental Products and Dentrix Dental Systems, making it the world's largest distributor of dental equipment and supplies. Dentrix Ascend, Henry Schein's cloud-based software designed for dental offices, is a scalable system. Its interface was built to be intuitive and the company works with users to include features dental offices require.