Early years
The company's origins go back to DMG, Inc., a Massachusetts real estate investment trust organized in 1969. In 1978, DMG, Inc. was reorganized as a Florida corporation and changed its name to Diversified Mortgage Investors, Inc. In 1983, the Rales brothers invested in the company, which at that time was invested in retirement home developments, they then replaced the existing management in a bitter proxy battle.[6]
In 1984, the company adopted the name Danaher and reincorporated under the Delaware General Corporation Law.[1]
In 1985, the Rales brothers offered $400 million in a hostile bid for Scott Fetzer Company but lost out to Berkshire Hathaway.[7]
In June 1986, Danaher acquired Chicago Pneumatic in a hostile takeover, offering $60.8 million for the 32% of the company not already owned.[8] The company had merged in July 1984 with a sister company, the Jacobs Manufacturing Co., and had purchased Matco Tools in April 1981.
In June 1987, Danaher sold Chicago Pneumatic while retaining Jacobs, including its Matco Tools Division.[9] Jacobs' name was changed to Matco Tools Corp. In November 1991, the other divisions within Jacobs were established as separate operating companies. In January 1993, Danaher formed NMTC, Inc., which acquired a substantial portion of the assets of MTC, including the existing distributorship agreements of MTC.
In 1986, Danaher added Qualitrol to its instrumentation unit, including Gilbarco Veeder-Root's underground fuel storage sensors, Dynapar's motion sensors, and pressure measurement and temperature measurement instruments used on the electrical transformer industry.[10]
1990–2000
In 1990, Danaher acquired Easco Hand Tools Inc.[11] Danaher was selected as exclusive supplier of hand tools for Sears. In 1994, Danaher acquired Armstrong Tools, the makers of tool brands Armstrong, Allen, and others.[12]
In 1995, Danaher acquired Hengstler GmbH, a manufacturer of counters, printers, relays, and high-precision rotational sensors. Hengstler was Danaher's first acquisition headquartered outside the United States.[13]
In 1999, the company acquired Hach Company, involved in water and wastewater—and analytics, for $325 million.[14][15]
2001–2010
In 2000, H. Lawrence Culp Jr. was named CEO of Danaher; he had joined the company in 1990.[16]
Danaher acquired Trojan Technologies, an environmental engineering firm, in 2004.[17]
Danaher also acquired UK-based West Instruments, which provides control and measurement instrumentation and services for the global industrial and process markets.
Danaher announced its agreement to acquire the Gendex division from DENTSPLY International on December 11, 2003, with the acquisition closing in early 2004, integrating this dental imaging company into Danaher's growing dental portfolio. [18]
PMA, a German manufacturer of control and measurement instrumentation, was acquired in April 2005.[19]
In July 2005, Danaher acquired Leica Microsystems
2011–2020
In 2011, Danaher acquired Beckman Coulter, which was divided into a diagnostics segment and a life sciences segment.[27]
In January 2012, Danaher sold Accu-sort to Datalogic.[28]
In December 2012, Danaher acquired Navman Wireless, a provider of on-demand fleet and asset management technology.[29]
In February 2013, Danaher and Cooper Industries sold their joint venture, Apex Tool Group, to Bain Capital for $1.6 billion.[30]
2021–present
In June 2021, Precision Nanosystems was acquired by Cytiva.[53]
In August 2021, Danaher acquired Aldevron, which produces mRNA and proteins used in mRNA vaccines, for $9.6 billion in cash.[54][55]
In May 2023, Pall Corporation merged with Cytiva to create a new Biotechnology Group within Danaher; at that time Cytiva employed more than 16,000 associates in over 40 countries.[56][57]
Also in September 2022, Danaher announced its intention to spin off its Environmental & Applied Solutions segment; in February 2023, it was named Veralto
