Baxter International Inc.

Baxter International Inc. is an American healthcare company that manufactures and distributes a broad portfolio of essential hospital products, including sterile intravenous (IV) solutions, infusion pumps, generic injectable pharmaceuticals, surgical hemostats, smart hospital beds, and patient monitoring systems, generating $11.24 billion in net sales in fiscal 2025. The company operates in more than 100 countries, employs approximately 37,500 people globally, and occupies a position in the hospital supply chain that is difficult to replicate — its products are used daily in virtually every acute-care setting in the developed world.

This is a story about a company that over-borrowed to buy growth, then spent three years unwinding the damage. Baxter acquired Hillrom in late 2021 for $10.5 billion, taking on debt that ultimately exceeded $17 billion against an enterprise that generates mid-single-digit organic growth. The 2023 sale of its BioPharma Solutions business and the January 2025 sale of its Kidney Care business to Carlyle for $3.8 billion provided the balance-sheet reset: $3.81 billion of legacy debt was repaid in 2025 alone, and total debt fell from $13.8 billion at year-end 2023 to $9.5 billion by mid-2026. The file turns on a single question: whether the remaining business — smaller, more concentrated, and still carrying nearly $7.3 billion in net debt — can produce enough cash to finish the deleveraging without sacrificing the competitive positions that make it worth owning at all.