Medline debuts on the Nasdaq after the largest IPO of 2025

Shares of the American medical supplies giant Medline Its shares jumped in their Nasdaq debut on Wednesday after the world’s largest initial public offering of the year.

The stock opened at $35, up from its IPO price of $29. Shares closed up more than 41% at $41 a share, bringing Medline’s market cap to about $54 billion.

The private equity-owned company sold just over 216 million shares on Tuesday, raising $6.26 billion in a blockbuster offering that capped a strong year for new listings and boosted optimism about the IPO market in 2026. Medline shares will trade under the symbol MDLN.

The IPO pricing gives Medline a market value of at least $37 billion, based on 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 really broaden acceptance of who we are,” Medline CEO Jim Boyle told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” earlier Wednesday. “We’re the biggest company you’ve never heard of, and we’re everywhere. That’s a really interesting thing.”

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

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

Founded in 1966, Medline is headquartered in Northfield, Illinois. The company manufactures and distributes approximately 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 about $16.8 billion as of late September 2025. The company had $25.5 billion in net sales in 2024.

Medline’s previous plans to go public this year were delayed due to uncertainty about tariffs affecting products from Asia. The majority of the company’s products are sourced or manufactured in Asian countries, especially China.

Medline expects to lose between $150 million to $200 million from tariffs to pre-tax income in fiscal 2026.

The company competes with names like Maxon and Cardinal Health.

— CNBC’s Gina Francola contributed to this report