Medline IPO Hits Market Today: Largest Public Offering Since Rivian’s Blockbuster Debut

The medical supply giant Medline begins trading today, marking the biggest initial public offering since electric vehicle maker Rivian stormed the market. Forget quiet openings—this is a main event for the finance world.

Why This IPO Matters Now

It's not just about bandages and bedpans. A listing of this size acts as a bellwether for broader market appetite. When a heavyweight from the essential healthcare sector steps onto the public stage, investors watch to see if there's still an appetite for big-ticket, traditional plays—or if all the capital has already fled to the latest speculative tech narrative.

The Scale Is the Story

The Rivian comparison isn't casual. It immediately frames the offering in the context of recent market history's most hyped and volatile debuts. It sets expectations, creates a benchmark for performance, and dares traders to draw parallels in a very different economic climate.

Today's debut cuts through the market noise. It's a test of conviction for institutional money, often chasing stability in turbulent times. Will it be a safe-harbor trade or just another line item in a portfolio manager's quarterly report—the financial equivalent of buying the generic brand because the name-brand hype got too expensive?

A cynical take? The street loves a big, juicy IPO. It generates fees, headlines, and trading volume regardless of the company's long-term prospects. In a world obsessed with digital disruption, there's something almost quaint about a massive bet on physical, tangible supplies. Let's see if the old economy can still draw a crowd.

Key Takeaways

• Medical supply company Medline is set to make its trading debut on the Nasdaq today.
• The company raised more than $6 billion with the sale of 216 million shares priced at $29 each, making its the largest U.S. IPO in terms of proceeds since Rivian's in 2021.

Medline is set to start trading on the Nasdaq today, after the medical supply company raised $6.26 billion in one of the biggest initial public offerings in recent years. 

The medical supply giant, which will debut under the "MDLN" stock ticker, said Tuesday that it sold just over 216 million shares in its IPO at $29 per share, at the higher end of its previously anticipated range of $26 to $30. The company said it plans to use those proceeds to pay down some of its debts.

Medline, which sells more than 335,000 different medical and surgical products from protective equipment such as face masks to testing kits, said in a regulatory filing that sales have grown every year since the company's founding.

Medline reported net income of $977 million on $20.65 billion in revenue for the first nine months of the year ended in September, up from net income of $911 million on $18.72 billion in revenue over the same period a year earlier.

Why This Matters to Investors

Medline's debut marks the latest in an IPO market that has picked up from last year, though activity remains below records set in 2021. The $6.26 billion Medline raised in its IPO makes its the biggest since Rivian (RIVN) raised $11.93 billion in 2021, according to Renaissance Capital.

CEO Jim Boyle said in an interview on CNBC Wednesday that the IPO is expected to help boost Medline's brand, and that the company aims to be the "Costco of healthcare" for its medical equipment-buying customers, drawing parallels with its private label products, large supply chain, and strong vendor-customer relationships.

Related Education

Medline was founded in 1966, and was temporarily a public company between 1972 and 1977 before being taken private again. In 2021, Medline was bought out by a group of private equity companies including Blackstone in a Leveraged buyout valuing Medline at $34 billion.