CVS to split off drugstore business in major breakup of healthcare giant

CVS Health plans to split into two separate public companies by the first half of 2028, a breakup that would rank among the largest corporate separations in history, the company announced Wednesday.

The move would unwind the $78 billion acquisition of Aetna, which closed in 2018 and created the vertically integrated healthcare conglomerate CVS runs today. Under the plan, the drugstore business would be separated from the rest of the company, dismantling the structure management built through that deal.

The anchors here are the size and the timeline. A $78 billion transaction is being reversed, and the target date of the first half of 2028 puts the completion roughly two-plus years out. That is a long runway, which means the announcement is a statement of intent rather than an imminent event.

Interpretation: the decision to reverse the Aetna deal signals that management no longer views the combined model as the best way to deliver value. Whether the market agrees will show up in how the stock trades relative to peers as details emerge. A separation of this scale typically involves heavy structuring work, but the supplied announcement gives only the headline outline.