Philips Electronics’ Acquisition Frenzy

In 2001 was a watershed year as Philips shifted into high gear by bringing on two more companies and their product lines – Agilent and Marconi Medical. By procuring Agilent Technologies’ Healthcare Solutions Group of Massachusetts, Philips catapulted past GE Medical as the leader of the ultrasound sector. Philips absorbed Agilent’s expertise in the areas of diagnostic cardiology, automated defibrillators, patient monitoring, and point of care diagnostic systems.

Marconi Medical Systems of Ohio, formerly Picker International, was already a big player in its own right among major global CT suppliers. With Marconi, Philips gained cutting-edge multi-slice CT technology along with cardiology, oncology and PET/CT imaging applications. These two acquisitions in one year landed Philips in the top three for the entire medical equipment industry along with giants Siemens and GE Medical – some say as number two.

In 2005, the growth continued as Philips bought Stentor, Inc. of California, provider best-in-class picture archiving and communications systems (PACS). This move allowed Philips to help its clients successfully manage the voluminous amounts of imaging data created by its medical scanners. Then, the following year, the growth continued as Philips adopted Witt Biomedical Corporation, the largest independent supplier of Cath Lab monitoring and reporting systems.

In its drive to become King of the Medical Equipment industry, Philips Healthcare Services has acquired six companies since its inception in 1998. Each of the six has expanded Philips’ offerings to include a total of ten medical imaging modalities, from CT to MRI to x-ray, along with defibrillation and cardiac monitoring equipment as well as image and information management solutions.