|
Tenet, Chemdex venture
|
 |
December 13, 1999: 9:52 a.m. ET
Companies to launch online operation targeting medical supplies market
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Online medical supplies retailer Chemdex Corp. and Tenet Healthcare Corp., a hospital operator, struck a deal Monday to form a new company to target the business-to-business market for selling bulk laboratory and health supplies over the Internet.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Chemdex (CMDX), which went public in July, also said Monday it will buy privately held SpecialtyMD.com, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based Web company that provides content on clinical trials of drugs and other information to doctors and health care buyers, for about $115 million in stock.
Shares of Mountain View, Calif.-based Chemdex soared on the news, gaining 11-13/16, or 13 percent, to 104-1/4, at the beginning of trading. Tenet (THC) stock edged down 3/16 to 24.
Chemdex and Tenet Healthcare said the market for medical supplies in the U.S. totals about $143 billion annually. The companies will focus initially on the hospital market, then expand to the long-term care and outpatient markets.
Under the deal, IBM Global Services will provide electronic commerce services for the new company.
Tenet, based in Santa Barbara, Calif., runs 113 hospitals in 17 states. The new company will be able to leverage the operations of Tenet’s BuyPower, a group purchasing organization that handles buying for its hospitals and other customers. BuyPower manages more than 400 vendor contracts that generate more than $3 billion in purchases each year.
The new company will be an independent firm with its own management team and board of directors. Chemdex’s president and CEO, David Perry, will serve as its non-executive board chairman. 
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
