Danaher history

In 1978, DMG, Inc. was reorganized as a Florida corporation and changed its name to Diversified Mortgage Investors, Inc.

An important element of the Company’s history has been the evolution of the Danaher Business System (DBS) which began in our Jacobs Vehicle Systems business in the late 1980’s.

Danaher Corporation, a holding company established in 1984, currently consists of thirteen wholly owned subsidiaries that manufacture such diverse product lines as automotive and industrial tools, transportation products, and precision instruments and machines.

In 1986, Danaher bought Chicago Pneumatic who had recently merged with the Jacobs Manufacturing Company and bought Matco Tools Corporation.

Danaher in June 1987 sold CP while retaining Jacobs, including its Matco Tools Division.

During 1989 Danaher reassessed and restructured.

"Danaher: Riding the Rales; The Rales Brothers Build Their Dream Conglomerate," Financial World, September 18, 1990.

Jacobs' name was changed to Matco Tools Corp. in November 1991, and 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.

1994 Danaher acquires the tool company Armstrong- makers of tool brands Armstrong, Allen, and others.

By 1995, Danaher had total sales of about $1.3 billion and 10,000 employees.

Acme-Cleveland Corp., a manufacturer of industrial controls and test equipment such as used in the telecommunications industry, was acquired for $200 million in 1996.

Danaher bought Pacific Scientific for $460 million in 1998, beating out a hostile bid by Kollmorgen Corp., which was itself acquired by Danaher two years later for $240 million.

Revenues were $3.8 billion in 2000, with net earnings of $324 million.

COO Lawrence Culp was promoted to president and CEO in 2001.

Two businesses were acquired from Marconi plc in February 2002.

Danaher spent $312 million in 2003 to acquire a dozen smaller businesses.

Kaltenbach & Voigt GmbH (KaVo) was purchased in May 2004 for about EUR 350 million ($412 million). KaVo was a leading dental equipment manufacturer.

In July 2005, Danaher Announces Definitive Agreement To Acquire Leica Microsystems.

ChemTreat was acquired by Danaher in 2007 as well.

In 2009 Danaher purchased the Analytical Technologies business unit of Canadian Life Sciences company MDS, Inc. for US$650 million.

In 2011, Danaher acquired Beckman Coulter and sold Accu-sort to Datalogic.

In October 2012, Danaher Corporation and Cooper Industries agreed to sell their joint venture, Apex Tool Group, to Bain Capital for a fee of around $1.6 billion.

In September 2014, Danaher Corp announced its intention to buy Nobel Biocare for $2.2 billion.

In May 2015, Danaher Corp announced the acquisition of Pall for $13.8 billion, which was completed in August 2015.

In June 2016, Danaher spun off several subsidiaries, including Matco and AMMCO-COATS, to create Fortive.

In October 2017, Danaher Corp announced the acquisition of scientific informatics company ID Business Solutions Ltd. (IDBS). It was announced that IDBS would become part of Danaher's life sciences platform.

In March 2018, the business announced it would acquire Integrated DNA Technologies for an undisclosed price.

In October 2019, Danaher announced it has signed an agreement to sell its biomolecular characterization, chromatography hardware and resins, microcarriers and particle validation standards businesses to Sartorius AG for approximately $750 million.

On Monday, March 2, 2020, Doctor Stephen Hahn, the F.D.A.’s commissioner, said that the agency had taken actions to allow private labs and companies to begin making their own coronavirus tests in order to greatly expand the United States capacity to test for the virus.