Medline debuts on Nasdaq after biggest IPO of 2025

Shares of U.S. medical supplies giant Medline jumped more than 22% in their debut on the Nasdaq on Wednesday after the biggest initial public offering of the year globally.

The stock opened at $35, up from its $29 IPO price.

The private equity-owned company sold a little over 216 million shares on Tuesday, raising $6.26 billion in an upsized offering that finishes off a strong year for new listings and bolsters optimism about the IPO market in 2026. Shares of Medline will trade under the symbol “MDLN.” 

That IPO pricing gives Medline a market value of at least $37 billion, based on the shares listed in its regulatory filings.

“Historically, we’ve done very little advertising, very little marketing, and this gives us a way to amplify our voice and actually expand really the receptivity of who we are,” Medline CEO Jim Boyle told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” earlier Wednesday. “We are the largest company you’ve never heard of, and we happen to be everywhere. And that’s a really interesting thing.”

The U.S. IPO market has held steady despite market volatility in the spring, driven by President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, and the longest U.S. government shutdown in history in the fall. Just over 200 IPOs have priced this year, including Medline, which is the largest U.S. listing since Rivian‘s $13.7 billion deal in November 2021, according to data compiled by CNBC.

But Medline’s IPO is also among the biggest private equity-backed listings. Three private equity firms – Blackstone, Carlyle and Hellman & Friedman – acquired a majority stake in the company in 2021 for a whopping $34 billion. At the time, the deal was the biggest leveraged buyout since the financial crisis. 

Medline, founded in 1966, is based in Northfield, Illinois. The company manufactures and distributes roughly 335,000 different medical and surgical supplies – from gloves, masks and scalpels to wheelchairs. Medline has customers in more than 100 countries and, as of the end of 2024, employed more than 43,000 workers worldwide. 

Medline’s total debt was around $16.8 billion as of late September 2025. The company raked in $25.5 billion in net sales in 2024.

Medline’s earlier plans to go public this year were postponed due to uncertainty around tariffs affecting products from Asia. The majority of the company’s products are sourced or manufactured in Asian nations, particularly China. 

Medline expects a $150 million to $200 million hit from tariffs to income before taxes in fiscal 2026.

The company competes with names like McKesson and Cardinal Health. 

— CNBC’s Gina Francolla contributed to this report