US medical supplies giant medline is set to list on the Nasdaq on Wednesday after the year’s largest initial public offering.
The private equity-owned company priced its shares at $29 per share on Tuesday, capping a strong year for initial public offerings and raising $6.26 billion in an upfront offering that increases optimism about the 2026 IPO market. Medline stock will trade under the symbol “MDLN.”
The IPO pricing gives Medline a market value of at least $37 billion, based on the shares listed in regulatory filings.
“Historically, we’ve done very little advertising and very little marketing, but this gives us a way to amplify our voices and really expand the acceptance of who we are,” Medline CEO Jim Boyle said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” earlier Wednesday. “We’re the biggest company you’ve never heard of, and we just happen to be everywhere. And that’s really interesting.”
The U.S. IPO market remained strong despite volatility in the spring due to President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs and the longest U.S. government shutdown in history in the fall. More than 200 IPOs have priced this year, including Medline, the largest since its U.S. listing. Rivian$13.7 billion contract in November 2021, according to data compiled by CNBC.
But Medline’s IPO is also the largest private equity-backed public offering. Three private equity firms, Blackstone, Carlyle, and Hellman & Friedman, acquired a majority stake in the company in 2021 for a whopping $34 billion. At the time, the deal was the most leveraged acquisition since the financial crisis.
Medline CEO Jim Boyle celebrates with others as medical supplies giant Medline (MDLN) holds its IPO at the Nasdaq stock market site in Times Square in New York City, USA, on December 17, 2025.
Shannon Stapleton Reuter
Medline was founded in 1966 and is based in Northfield, Illinois. The company manufactures and sells approximately 335,000 types of medical and surgical supplies, ranging from gloves, masks and scalpels to wheelchairs. Medline has customers in more than 100 countries and employed more than 43,000 people worldwide at the end of 2024.
Medline’s total debt is approximately $16.8 billion as of the end of September 2025. The company generated $25.5 billion in net sales in 2024.
Medline’s original plan to go public this year was postponed due to uncertainty over tariffs affecting products from Asia. The majority of the company’s products are sourced or manufactured in Asian countries, particularly China.
Medline expects the hit to pre-tax profits from the tariffs to be between $150 million and $200 million in fiscal 2026.
The company competes with names such as McKesson and cardinal health.
— CNBC’s Gina Francola contributed to this report
