The business world has grown immensely fast over the years and has spread so much over so many fields around the world. The corporate world is very wide, with so many fields, such as the retailing field. There many companies in the world that have set up their businesses around distributing and selling different products. An example of such companies is CVS Pharmacy, a subsidiary of the American retail and health care company CVS Health.
The headquarters of the company are in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. The chain was owned by its original holding company Melville Corporation since its inception until its current parent company (CVS Health) was spun off into its own company in 1996. CVS Pharmacy is currently the largest pharmacy chain in the United States by the number of locations and total prescription value. Its parent company ranks as the seventh-largest U.S. by FY2017 revenues in the Fortune 500.
Inception
The company was founded in 1963 in Lowell, Massachusetts, and was originally named Consumer Value Store. CVS sells prescription drugs and a wide assortment of general merchandise, including over-the-counter drugs, beauty products, and cosmetics, film and photo finishing services, seasonal merchandise, greeting cards, and convenience foods through their CVS Pharmacy and Longs Drugs retail stores and online through CVS.com.
The company began using CVS as a name in 1964, and in 1969, CVS was acquired by the now-defunct Melville Corporation, which boosted its growth. In 1970, the company operated 100 stores in New England and the Northeast. In 1972, CVS acquired 84 Clinton Drug and Discount Stores and other retail stores, which increased business for the company a lot.
In the 1980s, the company became extremely successful with more than 400 stores in 1981. Sales reached $1 billion in 1985 after becoming the 15th largest pharmacy chain in the U.S., with 408 stores and $414 million in sales. In 1990, the company expanded again and acquired the 490-store Peoples Drug chain from Imasco, which established the company in new mid-Atlantic markets, including Washington D.C., Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia.
In 1994, CVS started PharmaCare Management Services. In 1993, CVS withdrew from the Southern California market. Formerly traded as MVL on the Stock Exchange, the company now trades as CVS. The company continued with its growth over the years as it bought many other similar companies such as Stadtlander Pharmacy of Pittsburgh and Eckerd drug stores and Eckerd Health Services.
Evolution
The company grows extremely fast as it continues to increase its stores all around the country, such as when they acquired the freestanding drug store operations of the supermarket chain, Albertsons. Despite all the success that the company has had, the company has had its tough times. The company struggled with some controversies on their road to glory. For example, the company was required to pay the United States government $2.25 million in 2009 for violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule.
Awards & Achievements
CVS pharmacy has grown very fast as a company and has had a lot of accomplishments. Although the company has had a lot of controversies over the years, the company has been able to overcome these controversies and has been able to achieve a lot. The company was honored when it participated in a program to reduce pollution of Maine’s waterways by accepting drugs from people for disposal to avoid them from disposing them into rivers and other water bodies.
Net Worth of CVS in 2024
CVS Pharmacy as a company has become one of the biggest companies in the world. The company has overcome a lot of struggles and controversies. The company has been successful to the point that they have a net worth $230 billion as of December 2024.
CVS Pharmacy is considered to be the largest pharmacy chain in the United States by the number of locations and total prescription value. As of 2016, the company had 9,600 locations in the country. Its success is quite remarkable.