Medline (MDLN) shares surged nearly 30% on Wednesday in their first day of trading, marking a blockbuster debut for the medical-supplies company after it raised $6.26 billion in the largest initial public offering of 2025.
The stock opened at $35 a share, well above its IPO price of $29, giving Medline a market value of about $47 billion based on shares outstanding disclosed in regulatory filings.
Medline sold roughly 216 million shares in an upsized offering priced at $29 a share, after increasing the deal size from its earlier filing.
The IPO surpasses the previous largest listing of the year, a $5.26 billion Hong Kong offering by China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology, and marks the biggest U.S. IPO since Rivian Automotive’s $13.7 billion debut in 2021.
The company counts Blackstone, Carlyle Group and Hellman & Friedman among its major shareholders.
Medline said most of the proceeds from newly issued shares will be used to reduce debt and strengthen its balance sheet, with the remainder allocated to general corporate purposes and offering-related expenses. Proceeds from shares sold by existing holders will go toward buying out equity interests from certain pre-IPO owners.
Medline describes itself as the largest provider of medical-surgical products and supply-chain services by net sales. Its catalog includes roughly 335,000 products used across hospitals, surgery centers, physicians’ offices and post-acute care facilities.
About one-third of Medline’s branded products are manufactured in-house across 33 facilities, while the rest are sourced from more than 500 suppliers in around 40 countries. The company also distributes about 145,000 third-party products through its supply-chain services business.
Medline posted $20.6 billion in net sales and $1 billion in profit for the first nine months of 2025. This came after the company reported $25.5 billion in revenue and $1.2 billion in net income in 2024. The company reported that sales have grown annually since its inception and is helped by recurring revenue from long-term customer contracts.
Prime Vendor agreements, which designate Medline as a primary supplier, generated $16 billion in net sales in 2024. The company said retention under those contracts has averaged more than 98% over the past five years.
Medline’s strong debut comes as Wall Street attention increasingly turns to the next wave of mega listings. Markets have been buzzing for more than a week around expectations that SpaceX could go public at a valuation of roughly $1.5 trillion, which would make it the largest IPO in history, potentially in mid-to-late 2026.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk earlier this week indicated that media reports around the aerospace company’s IPO plans are accurate.
On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for Medline was ‘extremely bullish’ amid ‘extremely high’ message volume.
One user said, “lezgo! Bought $10K @ $36.62. Let's see where this takes us.”
Another user predicted that “this share will keep raising, medical equipments are essential business.”
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