Bausch Health vs Hitachi: Founders, CEOs and History

Company facts

Founders

CEOs and their tenures

Timeline: Bausch Health and Hitachi side by side

1. 1910Hitachi

   Founding and First Induction Motor

   Namihei Odaira establishes the machinery repair shop that becomes Hitachi, and develops Japan's first 5-horsepower induction motor, establishing the foundation for the company's dominance in electrical engineering.

2. 1932Hitachi

   Expansion into Railway Technology

   Hitachi begins manufacturing electric locomotives and rail signaling systems, establishing a deep, institutionalized relationship with the Japanese national railway network that would evolve into the modern Hitachi Rail division.

3. 1959Bausch Health

   Milan Panic founds ICN Pharmaceuticals

   Milan Panic, a Yugoslav immigrant to California, founded ICN Pharmaceuticals in 1959 and ran it for four decades. ICN is the predecessor of Valeant Pharmaceuticals and of today's Bausch Health.

4. 1959Hitachi

   Entry into Computing and Electronics

   Hitachi develops its first electronic computer, the HITAC, marking the company's strategic entry into the information technology sector and laying the groundwork for its future digital systems business.

5. 1994Bausch Health

   Biovail Corporation International formed in Canada

   On March 29, 1994 Eugene Melnyk consolidated his Canadian drug-delivery business by amalgamating Trimel Corporation with its subsidiary to create Biovail Corporation International, the legal entity that files today as Bausch Health Companies Inc.

6. 2003Bausch Health

   ICN renames itself Valeant Pharmaceuticals

   ICN Pharmaceuticals, then based in Costa Mesa, California, took the Valeant Pharmaceuticals name in November 2003 to distance itself from the governance fights of the Panic era.

7. 2008Bausch Health

   J. Michael Pearson becomes chief executive

   Valeant appointed former McKinsey director J. Michael Pearson as chief executive effective February 1, 2008, succeeding Timothy C. Tyson. Pearson replaced internal research spending with debt-funded acquisitions of marketed drugs.

8. 2010Bausch Health

   Biovail and Valeant complete their merger

   The merger of Biovail Corporation and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International closed on September 28, 2010. The combined company kept the Valeant name and Pearson as chief executive but was incorporated in Canada.

9. 2011Bausch Health

   Ortho Dermatologics bought from Johnson and Johnson

   Valeant agreed to acquire the U.S. Ortho Dermatologics assets from Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a Johnson and Johnson company, for about $345M in cash, building the dermatology franchise.

10. 2013Bausch Health

    Bausch + Lomb acquired for $8.7 billion

    Valeant agreed in May 2013 to buy eye-health company Bausch + Lomb from Warburg Pincus for $8.7B in cash, adding contact lenses, lens care, ophthalmic drugs and surgical devices.

11. 2015Bausch Health

    Salix acquisition closes at about $11.1 billion

    Valeant completed its tender offer for Salix Pharmaceuticals on April 1, 2015 at $173 per share, about $11.1B in equity value and roughly $15.8B including debt, gaining the Xifaxan franchise.

12. 2015Bausch Health

    Drug pricing and Philidor scandal breaks

    Congressional investigators pressed Valeant over 525% and 212% increases on the heart drugs Isuprel and Nitropress, bought in February 2015, and over its undisclosed ties to the Philidor mail-order pharmacy.

13. 2016Bausch Health

    Joseph Papa replaces Pearson as chief executive

    Valeant named Perrigo chief executive Joseph C. Papa as chairman and CEO on April 25, 2016, and he took over in early May 2016 with about $30B of debt outstanding.

14. 2016Hitachi

    Toshiaki Higashihara becomes CEO

    Toshiaki Higashihara became CEO of Hitachi in 2016. Shifted Hitachi from a sprawling conglomerate toward infrastructure and digital businesses.

15. 2017Bausch Health

    Skincare brands and Dendreon sold to cut debt

    Valeant sold the CeraVe, AcneFree and AMBI skincare brands to L'Oreal for about $1.3B and the Dendreon cancer unit to China's Sanpower Group for about $820M, using the proceeds to repay debt.

16. 2018Bausch Health

    Company renamed Bausch Health Companies Inc.

    The name change from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. to Bausch Health Companies Inc. was completed on July 13, 2018, and the shares began trading as BHC on the NYSE and TSX on July 16, 2018.

17. 2020Bausch Health

    SEC settlement closes the Philidor accounting case

    On July 31, 2020 Bausch Health agreed to pay a $45M civil penalty to settle SEC charges of improper revenue recognition and misleading disclosures tied to Philidor. Former chief executive J. Michael Pearson and two other executives also settled.

18. 2020Hitachi

    Acquisition of ABB's Power Grids Business

    Hitachi executes the $11 billion acquisition of ABB's Power Grids business, renaming it Hitachi Energy and instantly establishing the company as the global leader in HVDC transmission and grid infrastructure.

19. 2021Hitachi

    Acquisition of GlobalLogic

    The company acquires the global digital engineering firm GlobalLogic for $9.6 billion, instantly establishing Hitachi as a top-tier provider of advanced software and product design services for the automotive and telecommunications sectors.

20. 2022Bausch Health

    Bausch + Lomb listed on the NYSE and TSX

    Bausch + Lomb common stock began trading under the ticker BLCO on May 6, 2022, and a Bausch Health subsidiary sold 35,000,000 Bausch + Lomb shares in the offering. Bausch Health retained about 88% of the eye-health company and still consolidates it. Thomas J.

21. 2022Hitachi

    Hitachi Construction Machinery Stake Sale

    Hitachi sold a controlling stake in Hitachi Construction Machinery to Itochu and Japan Industrial Partners, part of its exit from cyclical listed subsidiaries.

22. 2024Hitachi

    Acquired Thales Ground Transportation Systems

    Hitachi acquired Thales Ground Transportation Systems. Hitachi Rail completed its ~$1.88 billion (EUR 1.66 billion) acquisition of Thales's Ground Transportation Systems business, its rail signalling division, expanding Hitachi Rail to 51 countries and shiftin…

23. 2025Bausch Health

    DURECT acquired and record annual revenue reported

    Bausch Health closed the DURECT acquisition on September 11, 2025 for about $63M upfront, completed Solta Medical's Chinese aesthetics distribution purchase on December 1, 2025, and reported FY2025 revenue of $10.266B, up 7%, with net income attributable to Ba…

24. 2025Hitachi

    Toshiaki Tokunaga Becomes CEO

    Toshiaki Tokunaga became President and CEO on April 1, 2025, succeeding Keiji Kojima, who became Executive Chairman.

25. 2026Bausch Health

    RED-C trials miss endpoints and trigger a $1.4 billion charge

    In January 2026 the two Phase 3 RED-C trials of amorphous-rifaximin soluble solid dispersion for primary prevention of hepatic encephalopathy missed their primary endpoints.

26. 2026Bausch Health

    Second-quarter 2026 revenue of $2.85 billion and raised guidance

    Bausch Health reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $2.85B, up 13%, net income attributable to Bausch Health of $258M and adjusted EBITDA of $1.075B, and raised its full-year 2026 revenue, adjusted EBITDA and cash flow guidance.

27. 2026Hitachi

    Record Results and Home Appliance Sale

    Hitachi reported record FY2025 profit in April 2026 and agreed to sell 80.1% of its home appliance business to Nojima for about $737 million (¥110 billion).

Acquisitions

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