Kimberly-Clark To Buy Kenvue For $40 Billion

Kimberly-Clark Corp. agreed to buy struggling Tylenol maker Kenvue Inc. in a deal worth roughly $40 billion.

Kenvue holders will get $3.50 per share in cash and 0.14625 Kimberly-Clark shares per Kenvue share, according to a statement Monday, for a total consideration of $21.01 a share based on Kimberly-Clark’s Friday closing price. That’s a 46% premium to Kenvue’s close on Friday.

The deal has an enterprise value of about $48.7 billion, the companies said. Current Kimberly-Clark shareholders would own about 54% of the combined companies, with Kenvue shareholders getting the rest. 

Shares of Kimberly-Clark, which owns the Kleenex and Huggies brands, fell 16% in premarket trading, with Kenvue soaring 19%.

Kimberly-Clark said the combination would allow it to surpass Unilever to become the second-biggest seller of health and wellness products after Procter & Gamble Co. 

Kenvue’s portfolio includes Neutrogena lotion, Listerine mouthwash, Benadryl allergy medicine and Band-Aid wound care products. The company has struggled since it was spun off from Johnson & Johnson. Activist investors have taken stakes in Kenvue after a string of disappointing financial results, and in July the company removed its Chief Executive Officer Thibaut Mongon.

The deal for Kenvue could be complicated by the US administration’s attacks on Tylenol, its biggest product. President Donald Trump said in September that pregnant women shouldn’t take the painkiller, claiming it potentially causes autism. 

There is no clear connection between the use of Tylenol during pregnancy and adverse neurobehavioral or developmental outcomes such as autism.

Kenvue’s struggles continued in the third quarter. In a separate release, the company reported organic sales shrank 4.4%, worse than consensus expectations. The firm’s self care business unit — which contains Tylenol — led declines, falling 5.3% in the period. The firm maintained its view that sales will decline by low-single digit percentage this year.

The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2026 and Mike Hsu will stay on as CEO.

“Kimberly-Clark has undertaken a significant transformation to pivot our portfolio to higher-growth, higher-margin businesses,” Hsu said in a statement, noting that Kenvue’s collection of brands fits that bill.