Businessperson of the Year

Rank
37
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John Martin

Key Speakers At The Stanford Institute For Economic Policy Research Forum
John C. Martin, chairman and chief executive officer of Gilead Sciences Inc., speaks at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) 2012 Economic Summit in Stanford, California, U.S., on Friday, March 8, 2012. The Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) is a nonpartisan economic policy research organization that unites economic talent from all parts of Stanford University. Photographer: Tony Avelar/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesPhotograph by Tony Avelar — Bloomberg via Getty Images
  • Title
    CEO
  • Company
    Gilead

During Martin’s 19-year tenure as CEO, Gilead’s shares have risen 100-fold (including a 157% gain in the past two years). In recent years the company’s growth has been of the organic variety, with the development of two blockbuster drugs that are currently on track to exceed $15 billion in combined sales by the end of 2015. Those two hits, Sovaldi, a hepatitis C treatment said to cure 90% of patients, and its successor, Harvoni, have propelled Gilead to record prosperity: The company, which has a market value of $149 billion, saw sales double and profits quadruple last year. Over the past 12 months, the company’s profit margins have exceeded 50% and earlier this year, Martin surprised analysts by announcing he was “taking suggestions on companies to buy.”