Medtronic history

In 1950, however, the partners contracted as sales representatives for the Sanborn Company, the Gilford Instrument Company, and Advanced Instruments, Inc.

In 1957 Lillehei asked Bakken, who worked part-time repairing medical electronics at the school, to design an appropriate device.

In 1958 Doctor William Chardack and electrical engineer Wilson Greatbatch built the first implantable pacemaker in the United States.

The device, which incorporated the Hunter-Roth bipolar wire lead, was first successfully implanted in a human in 1960.

The growing product line and increasing demand required that the company move to a new, larger facility in 1961.

The credit helped Medtronic turn a profit of $17,000 for the first three months of fiscal 1962.

When pacemakers with this "transvenous" lead were introduced to the market in 1965, they seized a substantial portion of pacemaker sales.

New product introductions and pacemaker improvements helped sales surge to more than $12 million by the end of the 1967-68 fiscal year.

In 1968 the company purchased John Hay & Company, Ltd., a medical sales organization headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia.

In late 1969 Medtronic formed its own international division to accommodate direct European sales.

In 1970 the company was able to drop its contract with Picker International and control international sales, which accounted for 30 percent of total sales by that time.

The A.F. Morrison Company was acquired the following year, and by 1973 Medtronic accomplished complete jurisdiction over its North American sales with the purchase of the Medical Specialty Company and Corvek Medical Equipment.

In 1974 Bakken gave up the day-to-day responsibilities of the presidency to become chairman of the board.

In 1976 Medtronic established its Neurological Division, which developed products to help relieve chronic and acute pain.

Routine reinvestment of more than 8 percent of annual revenues during the decade fueled research and development of new and improved medical devices, and by 1981 annual sales reached another milestone--the $300 million mark.

In 1983 Medtronic voluntarily recalled a new pacemaker lead when it recorded relatively high failure rates in clinical tests.

William R. Wallin was named president and CEO in 1985, and diversification became a corporate goal.

After its introduction to the market in 1986, the Activitrax quickly claimed 20 percent of the pacemaker category.

La Jolla Technology, Inc., another producer of electrical nerve stimulators, was acquired in 1987 to strengthen Medtronic's position in this industry.

1989 Growth in Core Technologies

By 1991, annual revenues had reached $1 billion.

In 1992 the company's international sales contributed 40 percent of total revenues, justifying new facilities and expanded operations in Japan, China, and Eastern Europe, as well as increased focus on such developing nations as India and China and on countries in Latin America and Africa.

1993: Medtronic introduces the PCD defibrillator.

Forty years after he co-founded the company, Bakken stepped down as the chairman of Medtronic; however, he remained on the board until 1994.

In 1995, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Medtronic had a 49 percent share of the conventional pacemaker market, 32 percent of the implantable defibrillator market, and 75 percent in nerve-related devices.

Medtronic's revenues exceeded $2 billion in 1996, and the company continued its acquisition and new product introduction efforts.

In 1997, Medtronic opened a production site for implantable pacemakers and brain pacemakers in Tolochenaz, Switzerland.

Medtronic's problems were relatively minor in comparison to its outstanding growth in 1998.

In November 1999 Medtronic acquired Xomed Surgical Products, Inc., the leading manufacturer of surgical products used to treat ear, nose, and throat problems, for approximately $800 million.

Revenues for fiscal 2000 surpassed the $5 billion mark for the first time.

Also during 2001 Medtronic introduced InSync, the first electrical device ever approved for treating patients with congestive heart failure.

George remained on the company board as chairman for one more year, until April 2002, whereupon Collins was elected to that position as well.

Further uncertainty arose in September 2003 when the United States Department of Justice notified Medtronic that its Medtronic Sofamor Danek spinal surgery unit was the subject of an investigation into allegations of illegal kickbacks to physicians.

The company hoped to introduce the product to the United States market by the end of 2005.

Shortly followed by our first Environmental Sustainability and Governance Report issued in 2008.

In 2009, Medtronic acquired CoreValve LLC to bring transcatheter aortic valves to patients with severe aortic stenosis.

In 2013, Medtronic created employee networks in addition to employee resource groups to enable strong accountability from leadership.

In 2014, Integra LifeSciences announced it was acquiring instrumentation lines from Medtronic for $60 million.

Medtronic completed the acquisition of Covidien on January 26, 2015, a significant milestone in the company's history.

In February 2016, the company announced that it would acquire Bellco from private equity firm Charme Capital Partners.

Medtronic was ranked the largest medical technology company by revenue in 2017 with an annual revenue of $29.7bn.

Co-founder of Medtronic, Earl Bakken, passed away at the end of 2018.

In May 2019, Medtronic announced it would acquire Titan Spine, a technology company focusing on titanium spine implants.

In January 2020, the company announced its intention to acquire Stimgenics, LLC and their primary therapy: differential target, multiplexed, spinal cord stimulation.