The CEO of Northfield-based Medline cheered the company’s successful initial public offering late last year while discussing how tariffs have taken a bite out of its profits, in an interview with the Tribune following the company’s first earnings call Wednesday.
Medline is a massive medical supply company that was owned privately for decades before its initial public offering in December raised more than $7 billion. It was the largest initial public offering of the year.
Medline CEO Jim Boyle told the Tribune that much of the impact of tariffs hit the company in the second half of last year. Tariffs cost the company about $290 million in 2025, which was less than the $325 million Medline had expected.
Medline’s earnings report Wednesday showed that sales increased nearly 15% in the fourth quarter of last year to $7.8 billion, compared with the fourth quarter of the previous year, fueled by new customer signings. But the company saw its net income drop 38% to $180 million in that same time because of tariffs and the costs of its initial public offering, among other factors. For all of 2025, sales increased by 11.5% compared with the previous year, and net income decreased by 3.6%.
Medline’s stock was down 3.6% at market close Wednesday.
To mitigate the effects of the tariffs, Medline adjusted its sourcing locations, used its U.S. manufacturing facilities and imposed a “modest” price increase in August, Boyle said.
“We actually chose to either absorb or mitigate the vast majority of the tariffs, which meant we took a pretty hefty hit to our margin because we wanted to be in the boat with our customers,” Boyle said. “We felt like we had to feel some of the pain with them.”
The company had projected that tariffs would cost it another $200 million in 2026, but that was before last week when the U.S. Supreme Court shot down the tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. The Trump administration has since reimposed worldwide tariffs of 10%.
“We are currently evaluating the impact of the ruling, are aware that new tariff rates have been implemented and believe there’s a high likelihood that additional tariffs actions could take place,” Mike Drazin, Medline chief financial officer, said during the earnings call Wednesday. “… We do not intend to react immediately. Instead, we will take the time to thoughtfully assess the situation and determine the best course of action for our customers and for Medline.”
Boyle said Medline will seek tariff refunds if a pathway becomes available to do so.
Despite the impact of tariffs, Boyle expressed optimism about the company’s future and initial public offering late last year.
“It was a tremendous learning experience,” Boyle told the Tribune of the initial public offering, noting that the company held more than 300 meetings with investors. “We were the largest company, candidly, that no one had ever heard of. … It took a little while for us to educate the market as to who we are.”
Though Medline is a huge company — employing more than 45,000 people worldwide, including nearly 6,100 in Cook and Lake counties — most of the products it offers are hardly flashy. Medline sells hundreds of thousands of products, including medical supplies and instruments, patient gowns, personal protective equipment, Curad bandages and the iconic blue- and pink-striped blankets hospitals wrap around newborns.
Of the money raised in the initial public offering, Medline put $4 billion toward paying down debt and is putting another $1 billion toward potential mergers and acquisitions moving forward, Boyle said.
Medline is looking to acquire businesses that can help it expand its product offerings, enter into new types of health care markets or offer new types of services or technology solutions, Boyle said.
What Medline will pursue specifically depends on what becomes available, Boyle said. “We’re opportunistic,” he said.
Also looking forward, Boyle said it’s possible cuts to Medicaid under Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” could affect the company. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the new law will reduce federal Medicaid spending by $911 billion over 10 years, according to an analysis by KFF, a nonprofit organization focused on health policy.
“I think there is a potential for reduced volume because people won’t have access to health care,” Boyle told the Tribune. “I don’t expect it to be a robust reduction in volume, but there could be a moderate adjustment over time.”
He also expects the cuts to lead to more consolidation among health care providers, as they work to run their businesses more efficiently. Medline, however, is well positioned to take advantage of that consolidation, given that it sells products for all types of care, he said.
Despite the changes at Medline, Boyle said the company is growing and he doesn’t expect its headquarters to leave the Chicago area.
“Chicago has been our home for a long time and I don’t anticipate that changing,” Boyle said.
Brothers Jim and Jon Mills founded the company in 1966, building on the legacy of their grandfather A.L. Mills, who made surgeons gowns and uniforms during World War I at his company Mills Hospital Supply.
In 2021, the family agreed to sell a majority stake in the company to funds managed by private equity firms Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group and Hellman & Friedman. At the time of the sale, family members told the Tribune they went forward with the sale to raise cash for family members and to strengthen the company.
Boyle has been CEO of Medline since 2023, and first joined Medline in 1996 as a sales representative in Texas.
