We love organizations, we love decentralization. We love figuring out how to continue to grow and expand in the various categories that we exist. Sometimes, we go out and we enter a new category. Take ENT, for example: We bought a company in Minneapolis named, “Entellus. It was a smaller organization. We had a little tiny ENT portfolio and we said, “Man, what a great disease state, let’s acquire that.” And, guess what? It’s a stand-alone business. We’re pouring water on it, it’s growing and we continue to do that over and over.
We’ve bought someall-implant businesses before. We’re one year to this date to the acquisition of K2M, the close up of K2M, that’s a spine business, all implants. Another one that’s gone very well for us and we’re excited about the investments. And not only do we buy K2M, but we backed up and then bought, “Mobius,” which is a enabling technology for K2M — or for spine — within 12 months. So, a lot of times, not only do we acquire, but we continue to invest in these businesses as well.
And, again, a great journey that we’ve been on. I think Kevin has shared in some town halls publicly recently, recently, as in yesterday, he said, “You know, we’ve been buying, and we just bought an18-ounce steak.” He said, “We’re probably over the next couple of years going to have to buy the petite filet, the smaller ones we have an appetite, it just won’t be quite as big.” So, this Wright one’s as big as Stryker ever done. It’s our largest acquisition in the history of the company. So, there’s a lot of people very excited about that, and very committed to making sure it moves ahead.
So, the strategic synergies and scope of Wright and potentially bringing these organizations together, I think, is pretty clear. But, I’ll say it again, category leadership. How do we make sure that we’re number one or number two in each of the categories that we’re playing in? And, there’s a fit there for sure. We love the opportunity in upper extremity. We love the opportunity in lower extremity and even earlier today, just learning more about your biologics — couldn’t be more excited about the biologics portfolio, as well. These are complimentary portfolios that fill gaps, accelerate growth, drive new technology, enable other areas of the organization. It’s an extremely exciting time.
I also think the combination of the presence in the U.S., and coupling it with the global footprint, makes this a recipe for future growth. I also think that most importantly — and I was talking about culture a little earlier — that I always claim, it’s the most powerful force in any organization. It’s those little behaviors that show up each and every day by the people.
It’s so important to have a system and a process and you have that here and it’s very much like how we approach Stryker. You are built on integrity, you’re built on performance, you’re thinking about your people, you’re figuring out how to continuously improve that and “culture fits” are so important when you think about M&A as well. So couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity.
So, as we close today, and I pass it off, I do want to again say, just, “Thank you.” Thank you for the work up to this point. You should all have a little anxiety like I do, to go, “Holy smokes, we’ve got a lot of work in front of us, and that’s what I should think about.” Not only do we have to make sure that we’re continuing to deliver on the performance that’s expected in the fourth quarter, in Q1, in Q2, in Q3, et cetera, et cetera, but we have to make sure we’re thinking about how to bring these organizations together and do that in the right way. That’s heavy lifting, gang. You know that, we’ve done deals, you’ve done some deals. It takes a lot of energy. So, in advance, I thank you for that commitment and for pouring yourself into it, and we will be doing the same at Stryker and very excited about that opportunity. So, he’s no stranger to the extremity space. He leads that entity for us.
As I introduced him at a town hall earlier this week, I said that he has a very unique perspective on this, as he was in this organization — or a version of this organization — once upon a time in his history, and delivered terrific insights throughout this journey. On top of that, we love the future and where Gordon’s going and what he’s going to help us with and couldn’t be more excited to have him with us here today. Please give me a ... help me give a big round of applause at Gordon Van Ummersen, our head of trauma and extremities. Gordon, take it away. I don’t know if you want this [microphone] or that one.
Gordon Van Ummersen– Stryker Corporation – Vice President & General Manager, Extremities
I can grab this one.
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