Subsidiary | |
Traded as | : MJN |
Industry | Pediatric nutrition |
Founded | 1905 |
Headquarters |
Glenview, Illinois (Corporate Headquarters) Evansville, Indiana (Global Operations Center) |
Key people
|
James M. Cornelius Chairman of the Board Kasper Jakobsen (President & CEO) |
Number of employees
|
5,600 (2010) |
Parent | Reckitt Benckiser |
Website | Mead Johnson Nutrition |
Mead Johnson Nutrition Company was a major manufacturer of infant formula both domestically and globally with its flagship product Enfamil. The company dates back to a firm created by Edward Mead Johnson, one of the co-founders of Johnson & Johnson, who created his own business in 1895, which was renamed Mead Johnson & Company in 1905. The company was majority owned by Bristol-Myers Squibb after an acquisition in 1967, but was spun off in 2009 as an independent firm.
The company had global sales of $2.83 billion in 2009, with two-thirds of its revenue coming from outside the United States, where declining birth rates have led to a reduced market share. The company is gaining a presence in such emerging markets as the People's Republic of China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam and is also starting to develop a presence in India. Enfamil, the company's flagship brand, commanded 11.7% of the $22.3 billion market for infant formula worldwide in 2008.
In February 2017, British consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser bid $16.7 billion for the company.
Mead Johnson Nutrition Company (MJN) announced on June 15, 2017 that its merger with Reckitt Benckiser Group plc (RB) has been completed. As a result its common stock is no longer traded on the New York Stock Exchange, effective the announcement date.
Edward Mead Johnson had founded Johnson & Johnson in 1886 together with his brothers. In 1895, Johnson developed a side business called The American Ferment Company to create a digestive aid. In 1897, E. Mead Johnson left the family business to go out into business on his own in Jersey City, New Jersey, and in 1905, the company was re-established as Mead Johnson & Company. The firm's first major infant formula was developed in 1910, and Dextri-Maltose, a carbohydrate-based milk modifier was introduced in 1911, making it the first American product for infants to be clinically approved and recommended by doctors. The firm moved to Evansville, Indiana, in 1915, in the wake of World War I, as part of an effort to have easier access to the raw agricultural ingredients that were needed for its products, which required Johnson to build a series of new plants and factories to replace the ones he had left behind in New Jersey.