Johnson & Johnson vs Uber: Founders, CEOs and History

Company facts

Founders

CEOs and their tenures

Timeline: Johnson & Johnson and Uber side by side

1. 1886Johnson & Johnson

   Johnson & Johnson Founded

   Robert Wood Johnson, James Wood Johnson, and Edward Mead Johnson found the company in New Brunswick, New Jersey, with 14 employees, to mass-produce sterile surgical dressings after Robert was inspired by antiseptic pioneer Joseph Lister's 1885 warnings about i…

2. 1920Johnson & Johnson

   Band-Aid Brand Adhesive Bandages Introduced

   J&J introduces the first mass-produced adhesive bandage, sold under the Band-Aid brand starting in 1921; it becomes one of the most recognized consumer-health brands in the world before J&J later spins its consumer division out as Kenvue in 2023.

3. 1943Johnson & Johnson

   Robert Wood Johnson II Writes 'Our Credo'

   Chairman Robert Wood Johnson II authors 'Our Credo,' a one-page statement ranking the company's responsibilities to customers, employees, communities, and shareholders in that order; it remains J&J's official governing philosophy and was later cited as the bas…

4. 1944Johnson & Johnson

   J&J Goes Public

   Johnson & Johnson lists publicly, becoming an independent, market-traded company as it expands into a diversified healthcare business under Chairman Robert Wood Johnson II.

5. 1982Johnson & Johnson

   Tylenol Cyanide Poisonings and Nationwide Recall

   After seven people in the Chicago area die from cyanide-laced Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules, J&J issues a nationwide recall of 31 million bottles within a week -- far beyond what investigators said was necessary -- citing Our Credo's customer-safety priority…

6. 2009Uber

   UberCab idea takes shape

   Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick developed the Uber idea after discussing the difficulty of getting a reliable ride in Paris and San Francisco.

7. 2010Uber

   San Francisco service launch

   Uber launched service in San Francisco in 2010, proving that riders would pay for visible arrival times, stored payment, and digital receipts.

8. 2012Johnson & Johnson

   Alex Gorsky Becomes CEO

   Gorsky succeeds William Weldon as CEO amid a period of manufacturing-quality recalls, and spends the next decade restoring J&J's operational reputation while expanding the pharmaceutical and MedTech businesses and developing a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine duri…

9. 2012Uber

   UberX expands the addressable market

   UberX brought lower-priced rides from personal vehicles into the product mix. That shift moved the company beyond premium black cars, increased driver supply, and opened the larger regulatory debate over licensing, insurance, and worker classification.

10. 2016Uber

    China exit through Didi deal

    Uber exited China by selling its local operation to Didi Chuxing after an expensive subsidy fight. The retreat showed that local payments, regulation, mapping, and distribution could outweigh global capital and brand recognition.

11. 2017Uber

    Dara Khosrowshahi becomes CEO

    Dara Khosrowshahi replaced Travis Kalanick as CEO after a year of cultural, legal, and regulatory crises. The transition mattered because Uber needed a more credible operating and governance model before entering public markets.

12. 2019Uber

    Uber becomes a public company

    Uber completed its initial public offering in May 2019 and later reported roughly $8.0 billion in net IPO proceeds. The listing forced the company to explain its economics to public investors and shifted attention from geographic expansion to profitability.

13. 2020Uber

    Postmates acquisition strengthens U.S. Delivery

    Uber agreed to acquire Postmates for approximately $2.65 billion in an all-stock transaction. The deal added U.S. Delivery density, local merchant relationships, and delivery-as-a-service capabilities as Eats became more important during the pandemic.

14. 2021Uber

    Uber One launches

    Uber One launched as a paid membership connecting rides, delivery, and groceries. The product mattered because it gave frequent users a reason to keep more transactions inside one account instead of switching between single-category rivals.

15. 2021Uber

    Uber Freight agrees to buy Transplace

    Uber Freight agreed to acquire Transplace for approximately $2.25 billion. The deal moved Freight deeper into managed transportation and shipper software, a different business from consumer rides but tied to the same broader logistics ambition.

16. 2022Johnson & Johnson

    Joaquin Duato Becomes CEO

    Duato becomes CEO in January 2022, later adding the chairman title, and begins preparing the separation of J&J's consumer-health business from its medicine and device operations.

17. 2023Johnson & Johnson

    Kenvue Separation

    J&J completes the spinoff of its consumer-health business (Band-Aid, Tylenol, Listerine, Neutrogena) as the standalone public company Kenvue, narrowing J&J around its higher-margin Innovative Medicine and MedTech segments.

18. 2023Uber

    Waymo partnership brings autonomous rides to Uber

    Waymo and Uber announced a multi-year partnership to make the Waymo Driver available through the Uber platform, starting in Phoenix. The deal showed Uber's post-ATG autonomy strategy: partner with vehicle specialists while keeping the marketplace relationship.

19. 2024Uber

    $44.0 billion revenue year

    FY2024 revenue reached $44.0 billion, up from $37.3 billion in FY2023. The result showed that mobility had recovered after the pandemic while delivery remained a larger and more durable part of the business.

20. 2025Johnson & Johnson

    FY2025 Sales of $94.193B

    Johnson & Johnson reports $94.193 billion in sales and $26.804 billion in net earnings, split roughly 64% Innovative Medicine and 36% MedTech, both segments growing about 6% year over year.

21. 2025Johnson & Johnson

    Orthopaedics Separation Announced

    In October 2025 J&J announced plans to separate its orthopaedics business as a standalone company operating as DePuy Synthes, targeting completion in 2027.

22. 2025Uber

    $52.0 billion revenue and $193.5 billion gross bookings

    FY2025 revenue reached $52.0 billion, gross bookings reached $193.5 billion, and annual trips rose to 13.6 billion. The milestone mattered because it showed growth alongside GAAP operating income, adjusted EBITDA, and free cash flow at significant scale.

23. 2026Johnson & Johnson

    Proposed Talc Resolution and Raised Guidance

    J&J raised 2026 sales guidance to about $101.1 billion after Q2 sales of $25.31 billion, and on July 27, 2026 proposed an estimated $5.5 billion resolution of remaining ovarian talc claims.

24. 2026Uber

    $14.8 billion Delivery Hero offer and 3,300-role restructuring

    Uber offered €41.50 per share for Delivery Hero in July 2026 and launched the tender in September after Delivery Hero's boards backed it. The same month it announced about 3,300 corporate job cuts to remove management layers.

Acquisitions

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