• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family's $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for

2

'The demographic dividend of the last 40 years is ending': J.P. Morgan says the world is running out of the two things that kept interest rates down

3

The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow

1

Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family's $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for

2

'The demographic dividend of the last 40 years is ending': J.P. Morgan says the world is running out of the two things that kept interest rates down

3

The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow
FinanceValeant

Valeant Just Made a Killing on a Series of Drug Deals

By
Jen Wieczner
Jen Wieczner
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Jen Wieczner
Jen Wieczner
Down Arrow Button Icon
January 10, 2017, 3:12 PM ET
Perrigo Co. Chief Executive Officer Joe Papa Interview
Joseph "Joe" Papa, chief executive officer of the Perrigo Co., speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview in New York, U.S., on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2015. Papa discussed whether the drugmaker is open to takeover bids, his stance on tax inversions and Treasury regulatory changes. Photographer: Chris Goodney/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesPhotograph by Chris Goodney — Bloomberg/Getty Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Finally, some of beleaguered drug company Valeant Pharmaceuticals’ deals are paying off.

Valeant (VRX) is selling its cancer business Dendreon as well as three skincare products for total proceeds of more than $2 billion, the company said in a flurry of announcements overnight. Altogether, the sale represents a more than triple-bagger return for Valeant in a relatively swift time frame, with certain assets sold for several multiples more than what Valeant paid for them. Valeant stock surged as much as 6% Tuesday on the news.

Take Dendreon, which makes cancer immunotherapy treatment Provenge, for example. In February 2015, Valeant paid $495 million for Dendreon, which was then in bankruptcy. (Valeant had initially agreed to a purchase Dendreon for $296 million, but raised its offer to push the bid through bankruptcy court approval.) On Monday evening, Valeant said it would sell Dendreon for about $820 million to Sanpower Group, a Chinese conglomerate.

That’s a return of 66% in less than two years—not a bad profit, particularly on a bankrupt asset like Dendreon. “Pretty good, in our view,” Mizuho analysts wrote in a research note. By comparison, Valeant stock has lost 92% over the same period.

Valeant is reaping an even bigger return on a trio of skincare brands including CeraVe, AcneFree and Ambi, which it said Tuesday it would sell to L’Oreal for $1.3 billion. The drug company had scooped up the dermatology products in a series of small transactions between 2008 and 2012, paying about $150 million for the three combined, according to estimates by Evercore ISI analyst Umer Raffat. That means Valeant is making nearly eight times the money it paid for the skin products. “Some good news finally,” Raffat wrote in the title of his note to clients on the news.

Indeed, such success is a welcome change of pace for Valeant, which had said last year that it was looking to sell off as much as $8 billion in assets—or more if the price was right—in order to pay down its heavy $30 billion debt burden. As recently as November, Valeant was desperate enough that it was considering selling its Salix gastroenterology business, reportedly at a loss of at least $1 billion on what it paid for the company. But those deal talks fell through, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Still, Valeant needs to raise a lot more cash in order to accomplish its goal of paying down $5 billion in debt by early next year. Not all of that needs to come from asset sales; Valeant hopes to contribute some of its own free cash flow to reducing the debt as well. But it will certainly go faster if Valeant can continue to flip assets at major premium prices.

And Valeant seems to have become more open-minded about the assets it is willing to sell. While Valeant shareholder and board member Bill Ackman said last April that the company “was only considering selling non-core assets,” the drug company has since changed its tune, based on recent comments from Valeant’s new CFO Paul Herendeen.

“In a nutshell, if someone offers us a value that exceeds, even by a little, the value of the asset in our hands, we should sell that asset. It’s simple,” Herendeen said on Valeant’s latest earnings call in November. “Now let me be clear, our preference is to keep the businesses we identify as core, but not at all costs.”

Prospective buyers should hear that as an open call for bids.

About the Author
By Jen Wieczner
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Finance

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

Latest in Finance

Photo of RFK Jr.
HealthFDA
RFK Jr.’s peptide push narrowly gains backing from FDA advisers despite objections from scientists
By The Associated Press and Matthew PerroneJuly 24, 2026
3 hours ago
Canada celebrates new Detroit River bridge connecting Ontario to Michigan as 50% tariff feud keeps American officials away
North AmericaTariffs
Canada celebrates new Detroit River bridge connecting Ontario to Michigan as 50% tariff feud keeps American officials away
By The Associated Press, Mike Householder and Ed WhiteJuly 24, 2026
3 hours ago
dario
AIEconomics
Anthropic’s head of economics just explained why Anthropic’s CEO was wrong about a white-collar bloodbath
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 24, 2026
4 hours ago
pjm
EnergyData centers
The AI boom’s hidden electricity bill — and why you’re paying it
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 24, 2026
5 hours ago
j
AINvidia
Nvidia, Microsoft lead call for open-weight AI models after Kimi
By Michael Shepard and BloombergJuly 24, 2026
5 hours ago
Trump’s latest import taxes could set a precedent for a ‘broad tariff generator’ on anything a president wants to target, expert warns
LawTariffs
Trump’s latest import taxes could set a precedent for a ‘broad tariff generator’ on anything a president wants to target, expert warns
By Jason MaJuly 24, 2026
5 hours ago

Most Popular

Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family's $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for
Big Tech
Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family's $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for
By Sydney LakeJuly 23, 2026
2 days ago
'The demographic dividend of the last 40 years is ending': J.P. Morgan says the world is running out of the two things that kept interest rates down
Economy
'The demographic dividend of the last 40 years is ending': J.P. Morgan says the world is running out of the two things that kept interest rates down
By Eleanor PringleJuly 24, 2026
15 hours ago
The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow
Economy
The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 23, 2026
1 day ago
The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
Real Estate
The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 22, 2026
2 days ago
Current price of oil as of July 24, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 24, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 24, 2026
12 hours ago
Turns out Dead Internet Theory was right: AI agents are eating the Web, growing by nearly 8,000% and rewiring the Internet's business model
AI
Turns out Dead Internet Theory was right: AI agents are eating the Web, growing by nearly 8,000% and rewiring the Internet's business model
By Mia OsmonbekovJuly 23, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.