Johnson & Johnson's Slow-Motion Shift
Even without a breakup, its business is getting more concentrated.
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Johnson & Johnson doesn't want to explode its way out of the conglomerate business by breaking up. But it has been scooting with increasing rapidity in one particular direction.
Many of J&J's peers once depended on medical devices and/or consumer products as well as drugs. But after years of spinoffs and asset sales, they are predominantly pharma companies. Novartis, for example, gets 81.2 percent of its revenue from pharmaceuticals, including generics. Pfizer is at 92 percent. At GSK, which is more diversified, pharma alone is still nearly 60 percent of its business, and vaccines add another 15.3 percent.