Last week, Medtronic said it would shut down its ventilator product lines and reorganize the remaining patient monitoring and respiratory interventions businesses into a new unit, called Acute Care and Monitoring. The decision reverses a planned spin-off of the businesses announced in October 2022.
CEO Geoff Martha said on an earnings call that the company decided against spinning off or selling the units as the ventilator business “became increasingly unprofitable” and the market favored lower acuity ventilators, which is not Medtronic’s expertise. Martha also explained the dynamics of the patient monitoring market improved for Medtronic.
