DHR Danaher Corp /De/ - 10-K

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below, together with the information included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and other documents we file with the SEC. We have identified the risks and uncertainties described below, some of which we have experienced and any of which may occur in the future, as material, but they are not the only risks and uncertainties facing us. Our business is also subject to general risks and uncertainties that affect many other companies, such as market conditions, economic conditions, geopolitical events, changes in laws, regulations or accounting rules, fluctuations in interest rates, terrorism, wars or conflicts, major health concerns including pandemics, natural disasters or other disruptions of expected business conditions. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently believe are immaterial also may impair our business and financial statements, including our results of operations, liquidity and financial condition and our stock price.

Business and Strategic Risks

Conditions in the global economy, the particular markets we serve and the financial markets can adversely affect our business and financial statements.

Our business is sensitive to general economic conditions, such as elevated inflation and interest rates that have been experienced in domestic and international markets in recent years as well as the policy disruptions and uncertainties that have followed the 2025 change in administration in the U.S. Our operational costs, including the cost of energy, materials, labor, distribution and our other operational and facilities costs are subject to market conditions, including inflationary pressures. In addition to inflation and interest rates, slower economic growth in the domestic and/or international markets, actual or anticipated default on sovereign debt, volatility in the currency and credit markets, high levels of unemployment or underemployment, labor availability constraints, reduced levels of capital expenditures, changes or anticipation of potential changes in government trade, fiscal, tax and monetary policies (including as a result of the 2025 change in administration in the U.S.), government stimulus measures and the anticipation thereof, changes in capital requirements for financial institutions, government budget negotiation dynamics, sequestration or government shut-downs, austerity measures and other challenges that affect economies of the world have in the past adversely affected, and may in the future adversely affect, the Company and its distributors, customers and suppliers, including having the effect of:

• reducing demand for our products and services, limiting the financing available to our customers and suppliers, increasing order cancellations and resulting in longer sales cycles and slower adoption of new technologies;

• increasing the difficulty in collecting accounts receivable and the risk of excess and obsolete inventories;

• increasing price competition in our served markets;

• supply interruptions, delays or cost increases, which can disrupt our ability to produce or deliver our products and/or increase our costs;

• increasing the risk of impairment of goodwill and other long-lived assets, and the risk that we may not be able to fully recover the value of other assets such as real estate and tax assets;

• increasing the risk that counterparties to our contractual arrangements will become insolvent or otherwise unable to fulfill their contractual obligations which, in addition to increasing the risks identified above, could result in preference actions against us; and

• adversely impacting market sizes and growth rates.

If growth in any key economy of the world or in any of the markets we serve slows for a significant period, if there is significant deterioration in any such economy or such markets or if economic improvements do not benefit the markets we serve, our business and financial statements can be adversely affected.

We face intense competition and if we are unable to compete effectively, we may experience decreased demand and decreased market share. Even if we compete effectively, we may be required to reduce the prices we charge.

Our businesses operate in industries that are intensely competitive and have been subject to increasing consolidation. Because of the range of the products and services we sell and the variety of markets we serve, we encounter a wide variety of competitors; refer to “Item 1. Business—Competition” for additional details. In order to compete effectively, we must retain longstanding relationships with major customers and continue to grow our business by establishing relationships with new customers, continually developing new products and services to maintain and expand our brand recognition and leadership position in various product and service categories and penetrating new markets, including high-growth markets. Our ability to compete can also be impacted by changing customer preferences and requirements (for example increased demand for products incorporating digital capabilities or more environmentally-friendly products and supplier practices) as well as changes in the way healthcare services are delivered (including the movement of some care from acute to non-acute settings and increased focus on chronic disease management). Cost containment efforts by governments and the private sector, particularly in the healthcare industry, are also resulting in increased emphasis on products that reduce costs and improve efficiency and effectiveness. In addition, significant shifts in industry market share have occurred and may in the future occur in connection with product problems, safety alerts and publications about products, reflecting the competitive significance of product quality, product efficacy and quality systems in our industry. Our failure to compete effectively and/or pricing pressures resulting from competition may adversely impact our business and financial statements, and our expansion into new markets may result in greater-than-expected risks, liabilities and expenses. In addition, the Company’s competitors and customers have from time to time introduced, and may in the future introduce, private label, generic or low-cost products that compete with the Company’s products at lower price points. New, disruptive technologies may also emerge and displace the Company’s existing technologies resulting in an adverse effect on the Company’s business and financial statements.

Our growth depends in part on the timely development and commercialization, and customer acceptance, of new and enhanced products and services based on technological innovation.

We generally sell our products and services in industries that are characterized by rapid technological changes, frequent new product introductions and changing industry standards. If we do not develop innovative new and enhanced products and services on a timely basis, our offerings will become obsolete over time and our business and financial statements will suffer. Our success depends on several factors, including our ability to:

• correctly identify customer needs and preferences, predict future needs and preferences, anticipate and respond to our competitors’ innovation and allocate R&D funding accordingly;

• differentiate our offerings from our competitors’ offerings and avoid commoditization;

• innovate and develop new technologies and applications acquire or obtain rights to third-party technologies that may have valuable applications in our served markets and convince customers to adopt new technologies;

• obtain adequate intellectual property rights with respect to key technologies before our competitors do;

• successfully commercialize new technologies in a timely manner, price them competitively and cost-effectively manufacture and deliver sufficient volumes of new products of appropriate quality on time; and

• obtain necessary regulatory approvals of appropriate scope (including with respect to medical device products by demonstrating satisfactory clinical results where applicable as well as achieving third-party reimbursement).

If we fail to accurately predict future customer needs and preferences or fail to produce viable technologies, we may invest heavily in R&D of products and services that do not lead to significant revenue, which would adversely affect our business and financial statements. Even when we successfully innovate and develop new and enhanced products and services, we often incur substantial costs in doing so, and our profitability may suffer. In addition, promising new offerings may fail to reach the market or realize only limited commercial success because of real or perceived efficacy or safety concerns, failure to achieve positive clinical outcomes, uncertainty over third-party reimbursement or entrenched patterns of clinical practice. Competitors may also develop after-market services and parts for our products which may detract from our sales.

The healthcare industry and related industries that we serve have undergone, and are in the process of undergoing, significant changes in an effort to reduce (and increase the predictability of) costs, which can adversely affect our business and financial statements.

The healthcare industry and related industries that we serve have undergone, and are in the process of undergoing, significant changes in an effort to reduce (and increase the predictability of) costs, including the following:

• Many of our customers, and the end-users to whom our customers supply products, rely on government funding of and reimbursement for healthcare products and services and research activities. The PPACA, healthcare austerity measures in other countries and other potential healthcare reform changes and government austerity measures have reduced and may further reduce the amount of government funding or reimbursement available to customers or end-users of our products and services and/or the volume of medical procedures using our products and services. For example, the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (“PAMA”) introduced a multi-year pricing program for services payable under the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (“CLFS”) that is designed to bring Medicare allowable amounts in line with the amounts paid by private payors. It is still unclear whether and to what extent these new rates will affect overall pricing and reimbursement for clinical laboratory testing services, but to the extent our customers conclude that Medicare reimbursement for these services is inadequate, it can adversely impact the prices at which we sell our products. In addition, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 contains various drug price negotiation, inflationary rebate and government-established pricing provisions with varying implementation dates and subjects manufacturers who fail to adhere to the government’s interpretation of the law to penalties. The 2025 change in U.S. administration may also result in further changes that unfavorably impact the healthcare industry and our business.

• Other countries, as well as some private payors, also control the price of healthcare products, directly or indirectly, through reimbursement, payment, pricing or coverage limitations, tying reimbursement to outcomes or (in the case of governmental entities) through compulsory licensing or limiting of intellectual property protections. For example, China has introduced programs designed to lower prices for medical products and reduce healthcare costs (including a volume-based procurement program) that have unfavorably impacted our revenues and may continue to adversely affect our business and financial statements. Global economic uncertainty or deterioration can also adversely impact government funding and reimbursement.

• Governmental and private healthcare providers and payors around the world are increasingly utilizing managed care for the delivery of healthcare services, centralizing purchasing, limiting the number of vendors that may participate in purchasing programs, forming group purchasing organizations, strategic alliances and integrated health delivery networks and pursuing consolidation to improve their purchasing leverage, using competitive bid processes to procure healthcare products and services and investing in healthcare practices to increase their control over healthcare spending. Payors are also seeking to improve price predictability in an effort to mitigate exposure to future price increases.

These changes as well as other impacts from market demand, government regulations, third-party coverage and reimbursement policies and societal pressures are changing the way healthcare is delivered, reimbursed and funded and have in the past and could in the future cause participants in the healthcare industry and related industries that we serve to purchase fewer of our products and services, reduce the prices they are willing to pay for our products or services, reduce the amounts of reimbursement and funding available for our products and services from governmental agencies or third-party payors, heighten clinical data requirements, reduce the volume of medical procedures that use our products and services, affect the acceptance rate of new technologies and products and increase our compliance and other costs. In addition, we may be excluded from important market segments or unable to enter into contracts with group purchasing organizations and integrated health networks on terms acceptable to us, and even if we do enter into such contracts they may be on terms that negatively affect our current or future profitability. All of the factors described above can adversely affect our business and financial statements.

Non-U.S. economic, political, legal, compliance, social and business factors can negatively affect our business and financial statements.

In 2025 approximately 59% of our sales from continuing operations were derived from customers outside the U.S. In addition, many of our manufacturing operations, suppliers and employees are located outside the U.S. Since our growth strategy depends in part on our ability to further penetrate markets outside the U.S. and increase the localization of our products and services, we plan to continue to increase our sales and presence outside the U.S., particularly in the high-growth markets. Our non-U.S. business (and particularly our business in high-growth markets) is subject to risks that include:

• trade protection measures, tariffs, embargoes and import or export restrictions and requirements;

• public health crises and epidemics, such as the recent COVID-19 pandemic;

• interruption in the transportation of materials to us and finished goods to our customers;

• increases in materials, energy, labor or other manufacturing-related costs or higher supply chain logistics costs;

• differences in terms of sale, including longer payment terms than are typical in the U.S.;

• local product preferences or requirements;

• changes in a country’s or region’s political, legal, social, compliance, business or economic conditions, such as the devaluation of particular currencies or military conflict;

• unexpected changes in laws or regulatory requirements, including changes in tax laws;

• capital controls, limitations on ownership and on repatriation of earnings and cash and the potential for nationalization of enterprises;

• changes in local healthcare delivery, payment and reimbursement policies and programs;

• complex data privacy and cybersecurity requirements;

• limitations on legal rights and our ability to enforce such rights, including differing protection of intellectual property;

• difficulty in staffing and managing widespread operations;

• workforce instability and differing labor or employment regulations;

• difficulties in implementing restructuring actions on a timely or comprehensive basis; and

• greater uncertainty, risk, expense and delay in commercializing products in certain foreign jurisdictions, including with respect to product and other regulatory approvals.

International business risks have in the past and may in the future negatively affect our business and financial statements.

In 2025 we generated approximately 11% of our sales from continuing operations from China. Accordingly, political, economic, legal, compliance, social and business conditions in China generally can adversely influence our business and financial statements. Additionally, China’s government continues to play a significant role in regulating industry development by imposing sector-specific policies, and it maintains control over China’s economic growth through setting monetary policy and determining treatment of particular industries or companies. Further, considerable uncertainty exists regarding the long-term effects of the fiscal policies pursued by China as well as some of the world’s other leading economies. Uncertainty or adverse changes to conditions in China or the policies of China’s government or its laws and regulations can adversely affect the overall economic growth of China, or of the particular industries in which we participate, and have adversely affected and may in the future adversely affect our business and financial statements.

Our growth can suffer if the markets into which we sell our products and services decline, do not grow as anticipated or experience cyclicality.

Our growth depends in part on the growth of the markets which we serve, and visibility into our markets can be limited (particularly for markets into which we sell through distribution). Our quarterly sales and profits depend substantially on the volume and timing of orders received during the quarter, which are difficult to forecast. Any decline or lower than expected growth in our served markets can diminish demand for our products and services and adversely affect our business and financial statements and any failure to accurately forecast demand, cost levels and financial performance can adversely impact our business, financial statements and stock price. Certain of our businesses operate in industries that experience seasonality, or industries that have experienced and may continue to experience periodic, cyclical downturns. For example, demand for our molecular diagnostics products is typically heavier in anticipation of and during respiratory season, and in the past has been impacted and in the future will be impacted by the degree of severity of the flu and COVID-19 season as well as by outbreaks of other infectious diseases. Certain of our businesses have also experienced cyclical dynamics as a result of factors such as inventory de-stocking, high interest rates and depressed funding levels for biotechnology companies. In addition, lower levels of funding available to biotechnology companies (particularly smaller and emerging companies) in recent years has reduced demand for certain of our products and may have a similar impact in the future.

In addition, in certain of our businesses demand depends on customers’ capital spending budgets, government funding policies (including research funding policies) and interest rates, and matters of public policy and government budget, fiscal and monetary dynamics as well as product and economic cycles can affect the spending decisions of these entities. The availability of governmental research funding has been, and may in the future be, adversely affected by policy changes, economic conditions and governmental spending reductions, including the downsizing or reduced funding of certain government agencies.

Demand for our products and services is also sensitive to changes in customer order patterns, which may be affected by announced price changes, marketing or promotional programs that may accelerate demand in a particular fiscal period and diminish demand in subsequent periods, new product introductions, the timing of industry trade shows and changes in distributor or customer inventory levels due to distributor or customer management thereof or other factors. Any of these factors could adversely affect our business and financial statements in any given period.

Uncertainties with respect to the development, deployment, and use of AI in our business and products may result in harm to our business and reputation.

We are in the early stages of incorporating AI, including machine learning technologies, into our business activities and our product and service offerings. As with many innovations, AI presents risks and challenges that could adversely impact our business. The development, adoption, and use of AI technologies are still in their early stages and ineffective, inadequate or premature AI development or deployment practices could result in unintended consequences such as competitive harm, regulatory penalties, legal liability or brand or reputational harm. For example, AI algorithms may be flawed or may be based on datasets that are biased or insufficient or contain errors. In addition, any disruption or failure in the AI functionality we incorporate into our business activities, products or services could adversely impact our business or result in delays or errors in our offerings. Conversely, any failure to successfully develop and deploy AI in our business activities, products and services could adversely affect our competitiveness (particularly if our competitors successfully deploy AI in their businesses, products and services), and the development and deployment of AI has required and will require additional investment that increases our costs. There also may be real or perceived social harm, unfairness, or other outcomes that could undermine public confidence in the use and deployment of AI. Incorporating AI into our business operations presents new risks relating to intellectual property, disclosure of confidential data, data protection, data privacy and cybersecurity. For example, incorporating confidential information into AI systems may result in the loss of intellectual property or attorney-client privilege protections, and our use of AI technologies to develop products or services may adversely affect our intellectual property rights or violate third-party intellectual property rights. Any of the foregoing may result in decreased demand for our products or harm to our business, financial statements or reputation.

Compliance with new or changing laws, regulations or industry standards relating to AI may impose significant costs and may limit our ability to develop, deploy or use AI technologies. Failure to appropriately respond to this evolving landscape may result in legal liability, regulatory action, or brand and reputational harm.

Global health crises, pandemics, epidemics or other outbreaks can adversely impact certain elements of our business and financial statements.

Our global operations expose us to risks associated with public health crises, including epidemics and pandemics such as COVID-19. The global spread of COVID-19 led to unprecedented restrictions on, and disruptions in, business and personal activities, including as a result of preventive and precautionary measures that we, other businesses, our communities and governments undertook to mitigate the spread. Any future epidemic or pandemic could negatively impact the economies and financial markets of the world and our business and financial statements. To the extent we develop and sell products to address epidemics or pandemics, we may experience volatility and declines in demand that are unanticipated in timing or magnitude, which could adversely affect our business and financial statements.

Certain of our businesses rely on relationships with business partners and other third-parties for development, supply and/or marketing of certain products, potential products and technologies, and such business partners or other third-parties could fail to perform sufficiently.

For certain of our businesses, success in penetrating target markets depends in part on their ability to develop and maintain business relationships with other companies. Relying on these relationships is risky because, among other things, our business partners may (1) have insufficient capital resources or otherwise fail to devote sufficient resources to the success of our collaborations; (2) fail to obtain regulatory approvals necessary to continue the collaborations in a timely manner; (3) compete with us; (4) disagree with us on key details of the business relationship; (5) fail to comply with applicable laws, regulatory requirements and/or applicable contractual obligations; and (6) become insolvent or terminate or decline to renew existing relationships on acceptable terms, which may require us to devote additional resources to product development and commercialization and/or cancel programs. The realization of any of these risks could adversely affect our business and financial statements.

Acquisition, Divestiture and Investment Risks

Failing to consummate acquisitions at our historical rate and at appropriate prices, and to make appropriate investments that support our long-term strategy, can negatively impact our business.

Our ability to grow revenues, earnings and cash flow at or above our historic rates depends in part upon our ability to identify and successfully acquire and integrate businesses at appropriate prices and realize anticipated synergies, and to make appropriate investments that support our long-term strategy. Over the past several years we have not

consummated acquisitions at rates similar to our historical practice and going forward we may not be able to consummate acquisitions at rates similar to our historical practice, which can adversely impact our business. Promising acquisitions and investments, such as our pending acquisition of Masimo Corporation, are difficult to identify and complete for a number of reasons, including high valuations, competition among prospective buyers or investors, the availability of affordable funding in the capital markets and the need to satisfy applicable closing conditions and obtain applicable antitrust and other regulatory approvals on acceptable terms. For example, antitrust scrutiny by regulatory agencies and changes to regulatory approval processes in the U.S. and non-U.S. jurisdictions may cause approvals to take longer than anticipated to obtain, may not be obtained at all, or may contain burdensome conditions, which may jeopardize, delay or reduce the anticipated benefits of acquisitions to us and could impede the execution of our business strategy. In addition, competition for acquisitions and investments has resulted and may result in higher purchase prices. Changes in accounting or regulatory requirements or instability in the credit markets could also adversely impact our ability to consummate acquisitions and investments.

Our acquisition of businesses, investments, joint ventures and other strategic relationships can negatively impact our business and financial statements.

As part of our business strategy, we acquire businesses, make investments and enter into joint ventures and other strategic relationships in the ordinary course, and we also from time to time complete more significant transactions; refer to “Item 7. MD&A” for additional details. Acquisitions (including our pending acquisition of Masimo Corporation), investments, joint ventures and strategic relationships involve a number of financial, accounting, managerial, operational, legal, compliance and other risks and challenges, including but not limited to the following, any of which can adversely affect our business and financial statements:

• businesses, technologies, services and products that we acquire or invest in sometimes under-perform relative to our expectations and the price that we paid, fail to perform in accordance with our anticipated timetable or fail to achieve and/or sustain anticipated levels of profitability;

• we from time to time incur or assume significant debt in connection with our acquisitions, investments, joint ventures or strategic relationships, which can also cause a deterioration of Danaher’s credit ratings, result in increased borrowing costs and interest expense and diminish our future access to the capital markets;

• acquisitions, investments, joint ventures or strategic relationships can cause our financial results to differ from our own or the investment community’s expectations in any given period, or over the long-term;

• pre-closing and post-closing earnings charges can adversely impact our results in any given period, and the impact may be substantially different from period-to-period;

• acquisitions, investments, joint ventures or strategic relationships can create demands on our management, operational resources and financial and internal control systems that we are unable to effectively address;

• we can experience difficulty in integrating cultures, personnel, operations and financial and other controls and systems and retaining key employees and customers, and former employees of our existing businesses or businesses we acquire sometimes compete with us;

• we are not always able to achieve cost savings or other synergies anticipated in connection with acquisitions, investments, joint ventures or strategic relationships;

• we have assumed and may assume unknown liabilities, known contingent liabilities that become realized, known liabilities that prove greater than anticipated, internal control deficiencies or exposure to regulatory sanctions resulting from the acquired company’s or investee’s activities; and the realization of any of these liabilities or deficiencies can increase our expenses, adversely affect our financial position or cause us to fail to meet our public financial reporting obligations;

• in connection with acquisitions and joint ventures, we often enter into post-closing financial arrangements such as purchase price adjustments, earn-out obligations and indemnification obligations, which can have unpredictable financial results and/or lead to disputes and litigation;

• as a result of our acquisitions and investments, we have recorded significant goodwill and other assets on our balance sheet and if we are not able to realize the value of these assets, or if the value of our investments declines, we are required to incur impairment charges (see “Financial and Tax Risks—We may be required to recognize impairment charges for our goodwill and other intangible assets” for additional information);

• we may have interests that diverge from those of our joint venture partners or other strategic partners or the companies we invest in, and we are not always able to direct or influence the management and operations of the joint venture, other strategic relationship or investee in the manner we believe is most appropriate, exposing us to additional risk; and

• investing in or making loans to early-stage companies often entails a high degree of risk, including uncertainty regarding the company’s ability to successfully develop new technologies and services, bring these new technologies and services to market and gain market acceptance, maintain adequate capitalization and access to cash or other forms of liquidity, and retain critical management personnel; we do not always achieve the strategic, technological, financial or commercial benefits we anticipate; we may lose our investment or fail to recoup our loan; or our investment may be illiquid for a greater-than-expected period of time.

The indemnification provisions of acquisition agreements by which we have acquired companies may not fully protect us and as a result we may face unexpected liabilities.

Certain of the acquisition agreements by which we have acquired companies require the former owners to indemnify us against certain liabilities related to the operation of the acquired company before we acquired it. In most of these agreements, however, the liability of the former owners is limited and certain former owners may be unable to meet their indemnification responsibilities. In addition, we obtain or receive the benefits of representations and warranties insurance in connection with certain acquisitions. There can be no assurance that these indemnification provisions or insurance coverages will protect us fully or at all, and as a result we may face unexpected liabilities that adversely affect our business and financial statements.

Divestitures or other dispositions could negatively impact our business, and contingent liabilities from businesses that we or our predecessors have disposed of could adversely affect our business and financial statements.

We continually assess the strategic fit of our existing businesses and may divest, spin-off, split-off or otherwise dispose of businesses for strategic, financial or other reasons. Over the last several years, Danaher has separated and disposed of multiple businesses using a combination of sale, spin-off, split-off, initial public offering and other transactions (collectively, the “Dispositions”). The Dispositions and any future, similar transactions pose risks and challenges that could negatively impact our business and financial statements. For example, divestitures or other dispositions can dilute the Company’s earnings per share, have other adverse financial, tax and accounting impacts and distract management, disputes can arise with the new owners of the divested/disposed business, we may not realize some or all of the anticipated benefits from the transaction and the transaction may not yield greater net benefits to Danaher and its shareholders than if it had not occurred. In addition, we have retained responsibility for and/or have agreed to provide indemnification against some known and unknown contingent liabilities related to the businesses that were subject to the Dispositions and other businesses we or our predecessors have sold or disposed. The resolution of these contingencies has not had a material effect on our business or financial statements but there can be no assurance that this favorable pattern will continue.

In addition, with respect to the liabilities for which other parties have agreed to indemnify us in connection with the Dispositions, there can be no assurance that the indemnity rights we have against such other parties will be sufficient to protect us against the full amount of the liabilities, or that such other parties will be able to fully satisfy their respective indemnification obligations. It is also possible that a court could disregard the allocation of assets and liabilities agreed to between Danaher and such other parties and require Danaher to assume responsibility for obligations allocated to such other parties. Each of these risks could negatively affect our business and financial statements.

We could incur significant liability if our dispositions of any of Fortive Corporation, Envista Holdings Corporation or Veralto Corporation is determined to be a taxable transaction.

We have received opinions from outside tax counsel to the effect that the dispositions of Fortive Corporation in 2016, Envista Holdings Corporation in 2019 and Veralto Corporation in 2023 each qualifies as a transaction that is described in Sections 355(a) and 368(a)(1)(D) of the Internal Revenue Code. These opinions rely on certain facts, assumptions, representations and undertakings regarding the past and future conduct of the companies’ respective businesses and other matters. If any of these facts, assumptions, representations or undertakings are incorrect or not satisfied, our stockholders and we may not be able to rely on the respective opinion of tax counsel and could be subject to significant tax liabilities. Notwithstanding the opinion of tax counsel, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) could determine on audit that any such transactions are taxable if it determines that any of these facts, assumptions, representations or undertakings are not correct or have been violated or if it disagrees with the conclusions in the respective opinion. If any such transaction is determined to be taxable for U.S. federal income tax purposes, our stockholders that are subject to U.S. federal income tax and we could incur significant U.S. federal income tax liabilities.

Operational Risks

Significant disruptions in, or breaches in security of, our IT systems or data or violation of data privacy laws can adversely affect our business and financial statements.

We rely on IT systems, some of which are provided and/or managed by third-parties, to collect, use, store, transfer and otherwise process electronic information (including sensitive data such as confidential business information and personal

data relating to employees, customers, other business partners and patients), and to manage or support a variety of critical business processes and activities (such as receiving and fulfilling orders, billing, collecting and making payments, shipping products, providing services and support to customers and fulfilling contractual obligations). Errors, defects, security issues or other vulnerabilities in third-party technology or in the integration of third-party technology with our systems or products could result in errors that could harm our business. In addition, some of our products and services, including those related to remote monitoring, incorporate software and IT that house personal data and some products or software we sell to customers connect to our systems for maintenance or other purposes. We also have products and systems that connect to the internet, hospital networks, electronic medical record systems or electronic health record systems. Our systems, products and services (including those we acquire through business acquisitions) are susceptible to being damaged, disrupted or shut down due to attacks by computer hackers, computer viruses, ransomware, human error or malfeasance (including by employees), power outages, hardware failures, telecommunication or utility failures, catastrophes, war, conflicts or other unforeseen events, and in any such circumstances our system redundancy and other disaster recovery planning may be ineffective or inadequate. Certain attacks also target hardware, software and information installed, stored or transmitted in our products after such products have been purchased and incorporated into third-party products, facilities or infrastructure. Security breaches of systems provided or enabled by us, regardless of whether the breach is attributable to a vulnerability in our products or services, or security breaches of third-party suppliers we rely on to process, store or transmit electronic information, can result in the misappropriation, destruction or unauthorized disclosure of confidential information or personal data belonging to us or to our employees, partners, customers, patients or suppliers. In some cases, we may address software and hardware vulnerabilities through security updates and patches we make available to customers, and such vulnerabilities may persist if customers do not promptly install (or promptly schedule service in connection with) such updates and patches. Like most multinational corporations, our IT systems and data have been subject to computer viruses, malicious codes, unauthorized access and other cyber-attacks and we expect the sophistication and frequency of such attacks to continue to increase. Unauthorized tampering, adulteration or interference with our products may also adversely affect product functionality and result in loss of data, risk to patient safety and product recalls or field actions. In addition, the rapid evolution and increased adoption of AI, including adopted by computer hackers or other malicious actors, may intensify our cybersecurity risks. The attacks, breaches, misappropriations and other disruptions and damage described above have the ability to interrupt our operations or the operations of our customers and partners, delay production and shipments, result in theft of our and our customers’ intellectual property and trade secrets, result in disclosure of personal data, damage customer, patient, business partner and employee relationships and our reputation and result in defective products or services, legal claims and proceedings, liability and penalties under privacy and other laws and increased costs for security and remediation, in each case resulting in an adverse effect on our business and financial statements. Our liability insurance may not be sufficient in type or amount to cover us against claims related to security breaches, cyber-attacks and other related breaches.

In addition, any businesses or technologies that we acquire may exacerbate the risks set forth above, for example due to acquired vulnerabilities or threats that were unknown or were ineffectively managed.

Our IT systems require an ongoing commitment of significant resources to maintain and enhance existing systems and develop new systems to keep pace with continuing rapid changes in information processing technology, evolving legal and regulatory standards, evolving customer expectations, changes in the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to data and information systems, and the IT needs associated with our changing products and services. These risks are exacerbated by the increasing importance of AI and the increasing incorporation of AI in our business. There can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully maintain, enhance and upgrade our systems as necessary to effectively address these requirements.

Any inability to maintain reliable IT systems and appropriate controls with respect to global data privacy and security requirements and prevent data breaches can result in adverse regulatory and business consequences and litigation. As a global organization, we are subject to data privacy and security laws, regulations and customer-imposed controls in numerous jurisdictions as a result of having access to and processing confidential, personal and/or sensitive data in the course of our business. For example, entities that are found to be in violation of HIPAA as the result of a breach of unsecured patient health information, a complaint about privacy practices or an audit by HHS, may be subject to significant civil, criminal and administrative fines and penalties and/or additional reporting and oversight obligations.

In addition, a significant number of countries where we operate have enacted privacy or data protection laws, rules and regulations, many of which have extraterritorial scope, with significant penalties for non-compliance. For example, failure to comply with the requirements of the GDPR and the applicable national data protection laws of the EU member states and other states subject to the GDPR may result in fines of up to €20 million or up to 4% of total worldwide annual turnover for the preceding financial year, whichever is higher, and other administrative penalties. Please see “Item 1. Business—Regulatory Matters” for additional information. Data privacy regulation and enforcement continues to evolve, with recent, increased focus on topics such as the use of AI, biometrics and surveillance technologies.

Government investigations and enforcement actions can be costly and interrupt the regular operation of our business, and data breaches or violations of data privacy laws can result in civil and criminal, monetary and non-monetary penalties and damage to customer, patient, business partner and employee relationships and to our reputation, any of which may adversely affect our business and financial statements. In addition, compliance with the varying data privacy regulations across the U.S. and around the world has required significant expenditures and may require additional expenditures, and may require further changes in our products or business models that increase expenses or reduce revenue.

Defects and unanticipated use or inadequate disclosure with respect to our products or services, or allegations thereof, can adversely affect our business and financial statements.

Manufacturing or design defects or “bugs” in, unanticipated use of, safety or quality issues (or the perception of such issues) with respect to, “off label” use of, or inadequate disclosure of risks relating to the use of products and services that we make or sell (including items that we source from third-parties) can lead to personal injury, death, property damage and/or regulatory violations that can adversely affect our business and financial statements. These events can lead to recalls or safety alerts, result in the removal of a product or service from the market and result in product liability, errors and omissions or similar claims being brought against us. Recalls, removals and product liability and similar claims (regardless of their validity or ultimate outcome) can result in significant costs, as well as negative publicity and damage to our reputation that could reduce demand for our products and services. Our business can also be affected by studies of the utilization, safety and efficacy of medical device products and components that are conducted by industry participants, government agencies and others. Any of the above can result in the discontinuation of marketing of such products in one or more countries and give rise to claims for damages from persons who believe they have been injured as a result of product issues, including claims by individuals or groups seeking to represent a class.

If we suffer loss to our facilities, supply chains, distribution systems or IT systems due to catastrophe or other events, our operations could be seriously harmed.

Our facilities, supply chains, distribution systems and IT systems are subject to catastrophic loss due to fire, flood, cyber-attack, earthquake, hurricane, power shortage or outage, public health crisis (including epidemics and pandemics) and the reaction thereto, war, terrorism, riot, public protest or other natural or man-made disasters, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the damage caused to our facilities by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico in 2017. If any of these facilities, supply chains or systems were to experience a catastrophic loss, it could disrupt our operations, delay production and shipments, result in defective products or services, diminish demand, damage customer relationships and our reputation and result in legal exposure and significant repair or replacement expenses. The third-party insurance coverage that we maintain varies from time to time in both type and amount depending on cost, availability and our decisions regarding risk retention, and may be unavailable or insufficient to protect us against such losses.

Climate change, legal or regulatory measures to address climate change and other sustainability topics and any inability on our part to address the range of stakeholder expectations relating to climate change and other sustainability topics may negatively affect us.

Climate change resulting from increased concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere presents risks to our operations. Physical risk resulting from acute changes (such as hurricane, tornado, wildfire or flooding) or chronic changes (such as droughts, heat waves or sea level changes) in climate patterns can adversely impact our facilities and operations and disrupt our supply chains and distribution systems. Concern over climate change can also result in new or additional legal, regulatory or quasi-regulatory requirements designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, mitigate the effects of climate change on the environment and/or increase disclosures with respect thereto, such as California laws requiring certain companies to disclose greenhouse gas emissions data and climate-related financial risks. Any such new or additional requirements relating to climate change or other sustainability topics may increase the costs associated with, or disrupt, sourcing, manufacturing and distribution of our products, which may adversely affect our business and financial statements. In addition, any failure to adequately address regulatory requirements (such as the new regulations certain jurisdictions have adopted relating to false or misleading claims about a company’s sustainability practices, and changes in U.S. federal law and policy related to diversity practices) or the range of stakeholder expectations with respect to sustainability matters may result in penalties, loss of business, adverse reputational impacts, diluted market valuations and challenges in attracting and retaining customers and employees. For example, our ability to achieve our current and future sustainability goals is uncertain and remains subject to numerous risks, including evolving regulatory requirements and stakeholder expectations, the availability of suppliers and other business partners that can meet our sustainability expectations, the effects of the organic and inorganic growth of our business, cost considerations, the availability of third-party performance or data beyond our control and third-party development of cost-effective technologies or resources that are made available to us and support our goals.

The manufacture of many of our products is a highly exacting and complex process, and if we directly or indirectly encounter problems manufacturing products, our business and financial statements could suffer.

The manufacture of many of our products is a highly exacting and complex process, due in part to strict regulatory requirements. Problems can arise during manufacturing for a variety of reasons, including equipment malfunction, contamination, failure to follow specific protocols and procedures, problems with raw materials or components, cyber-attacks, natural disasters and environmental factors, and if not discovered before the product is released to market can result in recalls and product liability exposure. Because of the time required to obtain approval of and licenses for certain regulated manufacturing facilities and other stringent regulations of the FDA and similar agencies regarding the manufacture of certain of our products, an alternative manufacturer is not always available on a timely basis to replace such production capacity. Any of these manufacturing problems could result in adverse impacts to our business and financial statements.

Our financial results are subject to fluctuations in the cost and availability of the supplies that we use in, and the labor we need for, our operations.

Prices for and availability of the components, raw materials and other commodities we use in our business, as well as for labor, have fluctuated significantly in recent years. Please see “Item 1. Business-Materials” for additional details. The supply chains for our businesses can be disrupted by inflation, supplier capacity constraints, fluctuations in demand, decreased availability of key raw materials or commodities, legislative or regulatory changes, bankruptcy or exiting of the business for other reasons and external events such as natural disasters, pandemic health issues, war, terrorist actions and governmental actions (such as trade protectionism). In addition, some of our businesses purchase certain requirements from sole or limited source suppliers for reasons of quality assurance, regulatory requirements, cost effectiveness, availability or uniqueness of design. In the event of interruptions in the supply, or increases in the cost, of such supplies, we might not be able to quickly establish or qualify replacement sources of supply. Sustained interruptions in the supply of, or increase in the cost of, key components, raw materials, other commodities and labor can result in production interruptions, delays, extended lead times and inefficiencies and adversely affect our business and financial statements. In addition, due to the highly competitive nature of the industries that we serve, the cost-containment efforts of our customers and the terms of certain contracts we are party to, when supply and labor prices rise we are not always able to pass along cost increases through higher prices for our products. Whenever we are unable to fully recover higher supply and labor costs through price increases or offset these increases through cost reductions, or whenever there is a time delay between the increase in costs and our ability to recover or offset these costs, our margins and profitability can decline and our business and financial statements can be adversely affected.

Our profitability could also be adversely impacted if we are unable to adjust our purchases to reflect changes in customer demand and market fluctuations, including those caused by seasonality or cyclicality. Because we cannot always immediately adapt our production capacity and related cost structures to changing market conditions, at times our manufacturing capacity has exceeded or fallen short, and may in the future exceed or fall short, of our production requirements. Any or all of these problems can result in the loss of customers or cost inefficiencies, provide an opportunity for competing products to gain market acceptance and otherwise adversely affect our business and financial statements.

Adverse changes in our relationships with, or the financial condition, performance, purchasing patterns or inventory levels of, key distributors and other channel partners can adversely affect our business and financial statements.

Certain of our businesses sell a significant amount of their products to or through key distributors and other channel partners that have valuable relationships with customers and end-users. Some of these distributors and other partners also sell our competitors’ products or compete with us directly. Adverse developments in the financial condition, performance or purchasing patterns of these distributors and partners, or consolidation of these distributors and partners, can adversely affect our business and financial statements. The levels of inventory maintained by these parties, and changes in those levels, also impacts our results of operations in any given period.

Our success depends on our ability to recruit, retain and motivate talented employees.

The market for highly skilled workers and leaders in our industries, particularly in the areas of science, technology and management, is extremely competitive and expectations from qualified talent in many areas of the labor market have evolved and escalated recently. In addition, in recent years we faced, and may continue to face, labor availability constraints and labor cost inflation in certain areas of our business. If we are less successful in our recruiting efforts, if we cannot retain and motivate highly skilled workers and key leaders, or if we experience labor disputes or unionization, our business and financial statements may be adversely affected.

Intellectual Property Risks

If we are unable to adequately protect our intellectual property, or if third-parties infringe our intellectual property rights, we may suffer competitive injury or expend significant resources enforcing our rights. These risks are particularly pronounced in countries in which we do business that do not have levels of protection of intellectual property comparable to the United States.

Many of the markets we serve are technology-driven, and as a result intellectual property rights play a significant role in product development and differentiation. We own numerous patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and other intellectual property and licenses to intellectual property owned by others, which in aggregate are important to our business. The intellectual property rights that we obtain, however, are not always sufficiently broad and do not always provide us a significant competitive advantage, and patents may not be issued for pending or future patent applications owned by or licensed to us. In addition, the steps that we and our licensors have taken to maintain and protect our intellectual property do not always prevent it from being challenged, invalidated, circumvented, designed-around or becoming subject to compulsory licensing. In some circumstances, enforcement is not available to us because an infringer has a dominant intellectual property position or for other business reasons. We also rely on nondisclosure and noncompetition agreements with employees, consultants and other parties to protect, in part, trade secrets and other proprietary rights. There can be no assurance that these agreements adequately protect our trade secrets and other proprietary rights and will not be breached, that we will have adequate remedies for any breach, that others will not independently develop substantially equivalent proprietary information or that third-parties will not otherwise gain access to our trade secrets or other proprietary rights. Our failure to obtain or maintain intellectual property rights that convey competitive advantage and adequately protect our intellectual property; our failure to detect or prevent circumvention or unauthorized use of such property; and the cost of enforcing our intellectual property rights each can adversely impact our business and financial statements.

These risks are particularly pronounced in countries in which we do business that do not have levels of protection of corporate proprietary information, intellectual property, technology and other assets comparable to the United States. The risks we encounter in such countries include but are not limited to the following:

• Joint ventures that we participate in can include restrictions that could compromise our control over the intellectual property, technology and proprietary information of the joint venture;

• As we expand our operations globally, increasing amounts of our data, intellectual property and technology is used and stored in countries outside the United States, and regulations in certain countries require data to be stored locally. These factors increase the risk that such data, intellectual property and technology could be stolen or otherwise compromised;

• Certain of our products have been counterfeited and we may encounter additional and/or increased levels of counterfeiting in the future;

• Governmental entities may adopt regulations or other requirements that give them rights to certain of our intellectual property, technology and/or proprietary information, or limit our ability to transfer data or technology out of certain jurisdictions;

• In certain countries, we do not have the same ability to enforce intellectual property rights as we do in the U.S.; and

• Risks, costs and challenges of operating in a particular jurisdiction can result in a decision to relocate or divert operations to a different jurisdiction, potentially at higher cost.

Any of these risks can adversely impact our business and financial statements. Refer to “Business and Strategic Risks—Non-U.S. economic, political, legal, compliance, social and business factors can negatively affect our business and financial statements” for a discussion of additional risks relating to our international operations.

Third-parties from time to time claim that we are infringing or misappropriating their intellectual property rights and we could suffer significant litigation expenses, losses or licensing expenses or be prevented from selling products or services.

From time to time, we receive notices from third-parties alleging intellectual property infringement or misappropriation of third-parties’ intellectual property and we cannot be certain that the conduct of our business does not and will not infringe or misappropriate the intellectual property rights of others. Disputes or litigation regarding intellectual property can be costly and time-consuming to defend due to the complexity of many of our technologies and the uncertainty of intellectual property litigation. Our intellectual property portfolio may not be useful in asserting a counterclaim, or negotiating a license, in response to a claim of infringement or misappropriation. In addition, as a result of such claims of infringement or misappropriation, we could lose our rights to critical technology, be unable to license critical technology or sell critical

products and services, be required to pay substantial damages or license fees with respect to the infringed rights, be required to license technology or other intellectual property rights from others, be required to cease marketing, manufacturing or using certain products or be required to redesign, re-engineer or re-brand our products at substantial cost, any of which could adversely impact our business and financial statements. Third-party intellectual property rights may also make it more difficult or expensive for us to meet market demand for particular product or design innovations. When we are required to seek licenses under patents or other intellectual property rights of others, we are not always able to acquire these licenses on acceptable terms, if at all. Even if we successfully defend against claims of infringement or misappropriation, we may incur significant costs and diversion of management attention and resources, which could adversely affect our business and financial statements.

The U.S. government has certain rights with respect to incremental production capacity attributable to, and/or the intellectual property we have developed, using government financing. In addition, in times of national emergency the U.S. government could control our allocation of manufacturing capacity.

Certain agencies of the U.S. government, such as the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (“BARDA”) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, have agreed to finance an expansion of production capacity and/or the development of technology at certain of our businesses, and our businesses may enter into similar agreements in the future. In consideration of this financing the U.S. government has certain rights, including rights with respect to the allocation of certain of the incremental production capacity associated with such expansion and/or rights in intellectual property produced with its financial assistance. If the U.S. government exercises its rights with respect to our intellectual property or allocating our production capacity, our business and financial statements could be negatively impacted.

In addition, to optimize availability of needed medical and other products in connection with any pandemic or other national emergency, we may elect or governments may require us or our customers to allocate manufacturing capacity (for example, pursuant to the U.S. Defense Production Act (“DPA”)) in a way that adversely affects our financial condition and results of operations, results in differential treatment of customers and/or adversely affects our reputation and customer relationships. For example, certain of our customers were subject to DPA requirements relating to the production of COVID-19 related products and required certain of our businesses to also comply with these requirements under our supply agreements. Under such circumstances, the levels of demand for our products can exceed our capacity to meet such demand on a timely basis or at all, which can result in negative publicity, competitive disadvantage and legal liability, and may adversely affect our business and financial statements.

Financial and Tax Risks

From time to time our outstanding debt has increased significantly as a result of acquisitions, and we expect to incur additional debt in the future. Our existing and future indebtedness may limit our operations and our use of our cash flow and negatively impact our credit ratings; and any failure to comply with the covenants that apply to our indebtedness could adversely affect our business and financial statements.

As of December 31, 2025, we had approximately $18.4 billion in outstanding indebtedness. In addition, we had the ability to incur approximately $3.9 billion of additional indebtedness in direct borrowings or under our outstanding commercial paper facilities based on the amounts available under our credit facilities that were not being used to backstop outstanding commercial paper balances. From time to time our outstanding debt has increased significantly as a result of acquisitions, and we may incur additional debt in the future. For example, the Company expects to incur debt to finance a portion of the purchase price for our pending acquisition of Masimo Corporation. Our debt level and related debt service obligations can have negative consequences, including (1) requiring us to dedicate significant cash flow from operations to the payment of principal and interest on our debt, which reduces the funds we have available for other purposes such as acquisitions and other investments; (2) reducing our flexibility in planning for or reacting to changes in our business and market conditions; and (3) exposing us to interest rate risk on any variable rate debt we may issue, particularly in light of increases in interest rates. If our credit ratings are downgraded or put on watch for a potential downgrade, we may not be able to sell additional debt securities or borrow money in the amounts, at the times or interest rates or upon the more favorable terms and conditions that might be available if our current credit ratings were maintained.

Our credit facilities and long-term debt obligations also impose certain restrictions on us, including certain restrictions on our ability to incur liens on our assets, and a requirement under our credit facilities to not exceed a specified, consolidated leverage ratio. If we breach any of these restrictions and cannot obtain a waiver from the lenders on favorable terms, subject to applicable cure periods, the outstanding indebtedness (and any other indebtedness with cross-default provisions) could be declared immediately due and payable, which would adversely affect our business and financial statements (including our liquidity). If we add new debt in the future, the risks described above would increase.

We may be required to recognize impairment charges for our goodwill and other intangible assets.

As of December 31, 2025, the net carrying value of our goodwill and other intangible assets totaled approximately $61.0 billion. Significant negative industry or economic trends, disruptions to our business, inability to effectively integrate acquired businesses, unexpected significant changes or planned changes in use of our assets, changes in the structure of our business, divestitures, market capitalization declines, or increases in associated discount rates can impair our goodwill and other intangible assets. In 2025 and prior periods, we recognized impairment charges relating to certain non-goodwill intangible assets, and in the future, we could recognize charges related to the impairment of goodwill or other intangible assets. Any such impairment charges adversely affect our financial statements in the periods recognized.

Foreign currency exchange rates can adversely affect our financial statements.

Sales and purchases in currencies other than the U.S. dollar expose us to fluctuations in foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar, which have in the past and may in the future adversely affect our financial statements. Increased strength of the U.S. dollar increases the effective price of our products sold in U.S. dollars into other countries, which can adversely affect sales or require us to lower our prices. Decreased strength of the U.S. dollar adversely affects the cost of materials, products and services we purchase overseas. Sales and expenses of our non-U.S. businesses are also translated into U.S. dollars for reporting purposes and the strengthening of the U.S. dollar generally results in unfavorable translation effects. In addition, certain of our businesses invoice customers in a currency other than the business’ functional currency, and movements in the invoiced currency relative to the functional currency can also result in unfavorable translation effects. The Company also faces exchange rate risk from its investments in subsidiaries owned and operated in foreign countries.

Changes in our tax rates or exposure to additional income tax liabilities or assessments can affect our profitability. In addition, audits by tax authorities can result in additional tax payments for prior periods.

We are subject to income taxes in the U.S. and in numerous non-U.S. jurisdictions. Due to the potential for changes to tax laws and regulations or changes to the interpretation thereof (including regulations and interpretations pertaining to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (“OBBBA”)), the ambiguity of tax laws and regulations, the subjectivity of factual interpretations, the complexity of our intercompany arrangements, uncertainties regarding the geographic mix of earnings in any particular period, and other factors, our estimates of effective tax rate and income tax assets and liabilities can be incorrect and our financial statements could be adversely affected; please refer to “Item 7. MD&A” for a discussion of additional factors that may adversely affect our effective tax rate and decrease our profitability in any period. The impact of the factors referenced in the preceding sentence may be substantially different from period-to-period. In addition, the amount of income taxes we pay is subject to ongoing audits by U.S. federal, state and local tax authorities and by non-U.S. tax authorities, such as the audits described in MD&A and the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements. If audits result in payments or assessments different from our reserves, our results can be adversely affected. Any further changes to the tax system in the United States or in other jurisdictions could also adversely affect our financial statements.

Changes in tax law relating to multinational corporations could adversely affect our tax position.

Legislative bodies and government agencies in the U.S. and other countries as well as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) have focused on issues related to the taxation of multinational corporations. One example is in the area of “base erosion and profit shifting,” for which the OECD has released several components of its comprehensive plan (e.g. the Pillar Two 15% global minimum tax framework) that have been adopted and expanded by many taxing authorities to address perceived tax abuse and inconsistencies between tax jurisdictions. As a result, the tax laws in the U.S. and other countries in which we do business could change on a prospective or retroactive basis, and any such changes could adversely affect our business and financial statements.

Military conflicts (such as the conflicts between Russia and Ukraine and in the Middle East) can adversely affect our business and financial statements.

Military conflicts (such as the conflicts between Russia and Ukraine and in the Middle East) can adversely affect our business and financial statements, including as a result of sanctions, embargoes, regional instability, geopolitical shifts and adverse impacts on energy supplies and prices. Military conflicts also heighten other risks disclosed in this Annual Report, any of which can adversely affect our business and financial statements.

The Company has suspended the shipment of products to Russia with the exception of products for the purposes of diagnosing and treating patients and producing vaccines and therapeutics. In 2025, Russia, Ukraine and Israel sales combined accounted for less than 1% of the Company’s sales.

Legal, Regulatory, Compliance and Reputational Risks

Significant developments or changes in national laws or policies to protect or promote domestic interests and/or address foreign competition can have an adverse effect on our business and financial statements.

Significant developments or changes in national laws or policies to protect or promote domestic interests and/or address foreign competition, including laws and policies in areas such as trade, manufacturing, government purchasing, healthcare, intellectual property, regulatory enforcement and investment/development, can adversely affect our business and financial statements. The U.S. has announced and/or implemented significant new tariffs on imports from a wide range of countries, which has prompted retaliatory tariffs by a number of countries and a cycle of retaliatory tariffs by both the U.S. and other countries. Subsequently, actions have been taken by the U.S. and certain other countries to modify certain of these tariffs and/or delay their effective dates, and the U.S. has entered into trade agreements with certain countries implementing new tariffs. In February 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (“IEEPA”), which the U.S. administration relied on to impose certain tariffs, does not authorize the administration to impose tariffs. In response, the administration announced plans to implement new tariffs under alternative statutory authority. The full impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling and the administration’s response remain uncertain; as of the date of this Annual Report, a number of tariffs issued by the United States and other countries remain in effect.

Collectively, these tariffs increase the cost to us of supplies and components we import, which in turn has required and will require us to implement surcharges and/or increase the price of certain of our products, among other countermeasures; can increase the cost to our customers of certain of our finished goods, which together with the surcharges and price increases noted above can adversely impact demand for our products and our competitive positioning; could adversely impact the availability to us of certain products in certain countries and disrupt our supply chains, with related impacts to our operations; and could exacerbate inflation, diminish investment and result in broader negative impacts including increased political and economic instability and capital markets dislocation that may adversely impact demand for our products. In addition, whenever we are unable to fully recover higher costs, or whenever there is a time delay between the increase in costs and our ability to recover these costs, our margins and profitability are adversely affected. The full impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s February 2026 ruling and the administration’s response remain uncertain, the U.S. may implement additional tariffs and other measures, further retaliatory tariffs and other retaliatory actions may follow and the risks and adverse effects noted above may increase. Please see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” for further discussion of the impact of these tariffs. Though the risks identified above in certain cases have already adversely impacted parts of our business, the full impact of these tariffs and other actions on the Company and on our business partners remains highly uncertain and subject to rapid change.

In addition, certain governments have implemented policies to induce “re-shoring” of supply chains, reduce reliance on imported supplies and promote national production. For example, the Chinese government has issued a series of policies in the past several years to promote the development and use of local medical devices.

Our business and financial statements can be impaired by improper conduct by any of our employees, agents or business partners.

There can be no assurance that our internal controls and compliance systems, including our Code of Conduct, protect us from acts committed by employees, agents or business partners of ours (or of businesses we acquire or partner with) that violate laws, including the laws governing payments to government officials, bribery, fraud, kickbacks and false claims, pricing, sales and marketing practices, conflicts of interest, competition, employment practices and workplace behavior, export and import compliance, economic and trade sanctions, money laundering and data privacy. In particular, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the UK Bribery Act and similar anti-bribery laws in other jurisdictions generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business, and we operate in many parts of the world that have experienced governmental corruption to some degree. Any such improper actions or allegations of such acts could damage our reputation and subject us to civil or criminal investigations and related shareholder lawsuits, could lead to substantial civil and criminal, monetary and non-monetary penalties and could cause us to incur significant legal and investigatory fees. In addition, the government may seek to hold us liable for violations committed by companies in which we invest or that we acquire. We also rely on our suppliers to adhere to our Supplier Code of Conduct, and violations of such code of conduct could adversely affect our business and financial statements.

Our businesses are subject to extensive regulation; failure to comply with those regulations could adversely affect our business and financial statements.

In addition to the environmental, health, safety, healthcare, medical device, anticorruption, data privacy, AI, sustainability and other regulations noted elsewhere in this Annual Report, our businesses are subject to extensive regulation by U.S.

and non-U.S. governmental and self-regulatory entities at the supranational, federal, state, local and other jurisdictional levels, including for example the following:

• We are required to comply with various import laws and export control and economic sanctions laws, which may affect our transactions with certain customers, business partners and other persons and dealings between our employees and between our subsidiaries. Compliance with the various import laws that apply to our businesses can restrict our access to, and increase the cost of obtaining, certain products and at times can interrupt our supply of imported inventory. In addition, we sell and provide products and technology to third-parties, such as agents, representatives and distributors, who may export such items to end-users. If we or any of these third-parties do not comply with applicable export or import laws we may incur liability. In addition, from time to time, certain of our subsidiaries have limited business dealings in countries subject to comprehensive sanctions. These business dealings represent an insignificant amount of our consolidated revenues and income but expose us to a heightened risk of violating applicable sanctions regulations. We have established policies and procedures designed to help ensure compliance with such laws and regulations but there can be no assurance that the policies and procedures have prevented and will prevent violations of these regulations, and any such violation can adversely affect our business and financial statements.

• We also have agreements to sell products and services to government entities as well as agreements relating to government financing, as discussed above (less than 5% of our 2025 sales were made to the U.S. federal government). The laws governing government contracts differ from the laws governing private contracts; for example, our government contracts are in some cases subject to termination, reduction or modification at the convenience of the government or in the event of changes in government requirements, reductions in federal spending and other factors. Government contracts that have been awarded to us following a bid process can become the subject of a bid protest by a losing bidder, which could result in loss of the contract. We are also subject to investigation and audit for compliance with the requirements governing government contracts.

These are not the only regulations that our businesses must comply with. The regulations we are subject to have tended to become more stringent over time and can be inconsistent across jurisdictions. We, our representatives and the industries in which we operate are at times under review and/or investigation by regulatory authorities. Failure to comply (or any alleged or perceived failure to comply) with the regulations referenced above or any other regulations can result in import detentions, fines, damages, civil and administrative penalties, injunctions, consent decrees, suspensions or losses of regulatory approvals, recall or seizure of products, operating restrictions, refusal of the government to approve product export applications or allow us to enter into supply contracts, disbarment from selling to certain governmental agencies or exclusion from government funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid or similar programs in other countries or jurisdictions, integrity oversight and reporting obligations to resolve allegations of non-compliance, disruption of our business, limitation on our ability to manufacture, import, export and sell products and services, loss of customers, significant legal and investigatory fees, disgorgement, individual imprisonment, reputational harm, contractual damages, diminished profits, curtailment or restricting of business operations, criminal prosecution and other monetary and non-monetary penalties. Compliance with these and other regulations can also affect our returns on investment, require us to incur significant expenses or modify our business model or impair our flexibility in modifying product, marketing, pricing or other strategies for growing our business. Our products and operations are also often subject to the rules of industrial standards bodies such as the International Standards Organization, and failure to comply with these rules can result in withdrawal of certifications needed to sell our products and services and otherwise adversely impact our business and financial statements. For additional information regarding these risks, refer to “Item 1. Business—Regulatory Matters.”

We are subject to or otherwise responsible for a variety of litigation and other legal and regulatory proceedings in the course of our business that can adversely affect our business and financial statements.

We are subject to or otherwise responsible for a variety of litigation and other legal and regulatory proceedings in the course of our business (or related to the business operations of previously owned entities), including claims or counterclaims for damages arising out of the use of products or services and claims relating to intellectual property matters, employment matters, tax matters, commercial disputes, breach of contract claims, competition and sales and trading practices, environmental matters, personal injury, insurance coverage, securities matters, fiduciary duties and acquisition or divestiture-related matters, as well as regulatory subpoenas, requests for information, investigations and enforcement. We also from time to time become subject to lawsuits as a result of acquisitions or as a result of liabilities retained from, or representations, warranties or indemnities provided in connection with, businesses divested by us or our predecessors. The types of claims made in lawsuits include claims for compensatory damages, punitive and consequential damages (and in some cases, treble damages) and/or injunctive relief and include claims by individuals or groups seeking to represent a class (for additional information please see Note 17 in the Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report). The defense of these lawsuits can divert our management’s attention, we from time to time incur significant expenses in defending these lawsuits, and we can be required to pay damage awards or settlements or become subject to equitable remedies that adversely affect our business and financial statements. Moreover, any insurance or indemnification rights that we have may be insufficient or unavailable to protect us against

such losses. Because most contingencies are resolved over long periods of time, new developments (including litigation developments, the discovery of new facts, changes in legislation and outcomes of similar cases), changes in assumptions or changes in the Company’s strategy in any given period can require us to adjust the loss contingency estimates that we have recorded in our financial statements, record estimates for liabilities or assets previously not susceptible of reasonable estimates or pay cash settlements or judgments. Any of these developments can adversely affect our business and financial statements in any particular period. There can be no assurance that our liabilities in connection with current and future litigation and other legal and regulatory proceedings will not exceed our estimates or adversely affect our financial statements and business.

From time to time, we become aware through our internal audits and other internal control procedures, employees or other parties of possible compliance matters, such as complaints or concerns relating to accounting, internal controls, financial reporting, auditing or ethical matters or relating to compliance with laws. When we become aware of such possible compliance matters, we investigate internally and take what we believe to be appropriate corrective action. Internal investigations can lead to the assertion of claims or the commencement of legal or regulatory proceedings against us and adversely affect our business and financial statements.

Certain of our businesses are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA and by comparable agencies of other countries, as well as laws regulating fraud and abuse in the healthcare industry and the privacy and security of health information. Failure to comply with those regulations could adversely affect our business and financial statements.

Certain of our products are medical devices and other products that are subject to regulation by the FDA, by other federal and state governmental agencies, by comparable agencies of other countries and regions, by certain accrediting bodies and by regulations governing hazardous materials and drugs-of-abuse (or the manufacture and sale of products containing any such materials). The global healthcare regulatory environment has become increasingly stringent and unpredictable. Several countries that did not have regulatory requirements for medical devices have established such requirements in recent years, and other countries have expanded, or plan to expand, their existing regulations. Please see “Item 1. Business—Regulatory Matters” for more information. Failure to meet these requirements can adversely impact our business and financial statements in the applicable geographies.

To varying degrees, these regulators require us to comply with laws and regulations governing the development, testing, manufacturing, labeling, marketing, distribution and post-marketing surveillance of our products. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to obtain regulatory clearance (such as 510(k) clearance) or approvals for our new products or modifications to (or additional indications or uses of) existing products within our anticipated timeframe or at all, and if we do obtain such clearance or approval it may be time-consuming, costly and subject to restrictions. Recent reductions in U.S. government agency staffing and government spending more generally could impact ordinary course operations of agencies with which we interact routinely (such as the FDA). Following these reductions, the agencies may lack adequate staff and resources to meet current review, approval and inspection schedules, which could delay the receipt of or otherwise adversely affect the outcomes of regulatory clearances or approvals we seek.

Our ability to obtain such regulatory clearances or approvals will depend on many factors, for example our ability to obtain the necessary clinical trial results, and the process for obtaining such clearances or approvals could change over time and may require the withdrawal of products from the market until such clearances are obtained. Even after initial regulatory clearance or approval, we are subject to periodic inspection by these regulatory authorities, and when safety issues arise we can be required to amend conditions for use of a product, such as providing additional warnings on the product’s label or narrowing its approved intended use, which could reduce the product’s market acceptance. We are also subject to various laws regulating fraud and abuse, R&D, pricing and sales and marketing practices, the privacy and security of health information as well as manufacturing and quality standards, including the federal regulations described in “Item 1. Business—Regulatory Matters.”

Government authorities have in the past and may in the future conclude that our business practices do not comply with current or future statutes, regulations, agency guidance or case law. Failure to obtain required regulatory clearances or approvals before marketing our products (or before implementing modifications to or promoting additional indications or uses of our products), other violations of laws or regulations, failure to remediate inspectional observations to the satisfaction of these regulatory authorities, real or perceived efficacy or safety concerns or trends of adverse events with respect to our products (even after obtaining clearance for distribution) and unfavorable or inconsistent clinical data from existing or future clinical trials can lead to FDA Form 483 Inspectional Observations, warning letters, notices to customers, declining sales, loss of customers, loss of market share, remediation and increased compliance costs, recalls, seizures of adulterated or misbranded products, fines, expenses, injunctions, civil penalties, criminal penalties, consent decrees, administrative detentions, refusals to permit importations, partial or total shutdown of production facilities or the implementation of operating restrictions, narrowing of permitted uses for a product, refusal of the government to grant 510(k) clearance, suspension or withdrawal of approvals, pre-market notification rescissions and other adverse effects referenced under the risk factor titled “Our businesses are subject to extensive regulation; failure to comply with those

regulations could adversely affect our business and financial statements.” Further, defending against any such actions can be costly and time-consuming and may require significant personnel resources. Therefore, even if we are successful in defending against any such actions brought against us, our business may be impaired. Ensuring that our operations and business arrangements with third-parties comply with applicable laws and regulations also involves substantial costs.

Our products can be subject to human clinical trials, the results of which may be unexpected, or perceived as unfavorable by the market, and could adversely affect our business and financial statements.

As a part of the regulatory process of obtaining marketing clearance for certain new products and new indications for certain existing products, we conduct and participate in clinical trials with a variety of study designs, patient populations and trial endpoints. Unexpected or inconsistent clinical data from existing or future clinical trials, a regulator’s or market perception of these clinical data and policy changes in a government’s or regulator’s receptiveness to approving particular technologies and products, can adversely impact our ability to obtain product approvals, our position in, and share of, the markets in which we participate and our business and financial statements. In addition, our products and services may support or be used in connection with customer products that are subject to clinical trials, and adverse results in any such clinical trials may adversely affect future demand for our products and services.

Off-label marketing of our products could result in substantial penalties.

The FDA and other regulatory agencies around the world strictly regulate the promotional claims that may be made about approved or cleared products. In particular, any clearances we may receive only permit us to market our products for the intended uses indicated on the labeling cleared by the FDA. We may request additional label indications for our current products, and the FDA may deny those requests outright, require additional performance or clinical data to support any additional indications or impose limitations on the intended use of any cleared products as a condition of clearance. If the FDA or any other regulator determines that we have marketed our products for off-label use, we can be subject to exclusion from participation in government healthcare programs and the other adverse effects referenced under the risk factors set forth above. Any of these events could significantly harm our business and financial statements.

Certain modifications to our products may require new 510(k) clearances or other marketing authorizations and may require us to recall or cease marketing our products.

Once a medical device is permitted to be legally marketed in the United States pursuant to a 510(k) clearance or a premarket approval (“PMA”), a manufacturer may be required to notify the FDA of certain modifications to the device (similar requirements apply in other jurisdictions). Manufacturers determine in the first instance whether a change to a product requires a new 510(k) clearance or premarket submission, but the FDA may review any manufacturer’s decision. The FDA may not agree with our decisions regarding whether new clearances are necessary. We have made modifications to our products in the past and have determined based on our review of the applicable FDA regulations and guidance that in certain instances new 510(k) clearances or other premarket submissions were not required. We may make similar modifications or add additional features in the future that we believe do not require a new clearance or approval. If the FDA disagrees with our determinations and requires us to submit new 510(k) notifications or PMA applications, we may be required to cease marketing or to recall the modified product until we obtain clearance, and we may be subject to civil and criminal, monetary and non-monetary penalties and damage to our reputation.

Our operations, products and services expose us to the risk of environmental, health and safety liabilities, costs and violations that could adversely affect our business and financial statements.

Our operations, products and services are subject to numerous U.S. federal, state, local and non-U.S. environmental, health and safety laws and regulations concerning, among other things, the health and safety of our employees, the generation, storage, use and transportation of hazardous materials, emissions or discharges of substances into the environment, investigation and remediation of hazardous substances or materials at various sites, chemical constituents in products and end-of-life disposal and take-back programs for products sold. For example, many regulatory agencies are imposing new and evolving regulatory requirements on the safe use of particular chemicals, including ethylene oxides and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”) and their potential impact on health and the environment, which may impact both our direct operations and our supply chain. There can be no assurance that our environmental, health and safety compliance program (or the compliance programs of businesses we acquire) have been or will at all times be effective. Failure to comply with any of these laws can result in civil and criminal, monetary and non-monetary penalties and damage to our reputation. In addition, there can be no assurance that our costs of complying with current or future environmental protection and health and safety laws will not exceed our estimates or adversely affect our business or financial statements.

In addition, we from time to time incur costs related to remedial efforts or alleged environmental damage associated with past or current waste disposal practices or other hazardous materials handling practices. We are also from time to time party to personal injury, property damage or other claims brought by private parties alleging injury or damage due to the presence of or exposure to hazardous substances. We can also become subject to additional remedial, compliance or

personal injury costs due to future events such as changes in existing laws or regulations, changes in agency direction or enforcement policies, developments in remediation technologies, changes in the conduct of our operations and changes in accounting rules. There can be no assurance that our liabilities arising from past or future releases of, or exposures to, hazardous substances will not exceed our estimates or adversely affect our reputation and financial statements or that we will not be subject to additional claims for personal injury or remediation in the future based on our past, present or future business activities. However, based on the information we have as of the date of this Annual Report we do not believe that it is reasonably possible that any amounts we may be required to pay in connection with environmental matters in excess of our reserves as of December 31, 2025, will have a material effect on our business or financial statements.

Changes in governmental regulations can reduce demand for our products or services or increase our expenses.

We compete in markets in which we and our customers must comply with supranational, federal, state, local and other jurisdictional regulations, such as regulations governing health and safety, the environment, food and drugs and privacy. We develop, configure and market our products and services to meet customer needs created by these regulations. Any significant change in any of these regulations (or in the interpretation or application thereof) can reduce demand for, increase our costs of producing or delay the introduction of new or modified products and services, or restrict our existing activities, products and services. For example, changes in the FDA’s regulation of the drug discovery/development process can have an adverse effect on the demand for our products and services.

Exclusive forum provisions in our By-laws could limit our stockholders’ ability to choose their preferred judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees.

Our Amended and Restated By-laws (the “By-laws”) provide that unless the Company selects or consents to the selection of an alternative forum, the sole and exclusive forum for any complaint asserting any internal corporate claims, to the fullest extent permitted by law and subject to applicable jurisdictional requirements, will be the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or, if the Court of Chancery does not have, or declines to accept, jurisdiction, another state court or a federal court located within the State of Delaware) (collectively, “Delaware Courts”). Current and former stockholders are deemed to have consented to the personal jurisdiction of the Delaware Courts in connection with any action to enforce such exclusive forum provision and to service of process in any such action. These provisions of the By-laws are not a waiver of, and do not relieve anyone of duties to comply with, federal securities laws including those specifying the exclusive jurisdiction of federal courts under the Exchange Act and concurrent jurisdiction of federal and state courts under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. To the extent that the exclusive forum provisions of our By-laws limit a current or former stockholder’s ability to select a judicial forum other than the Delaware Courts, they might discourage the specified legal actions, might cause current or former stockholders to incur additional litigation-related expenses and might result in outcomes unfavorable to current or former stockholders. Alternatively, a court might determine that these provisions of the By-laws are inapplicable or unenforceable in any particular action, in which case we may incur additional litigation-related expenses in such action, and the action may result in outcomes unfavorable to us, which could have an adverse impact on our business and financial statements.

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (“MD&A”) is designed to provide material information relevant to an assessment of Danaher’s financial condition and results of operations, including an evaluation of the amounts and certainty of cash flows from operations and from outside sources. The MD&A is designed to focus specifically on material events and uncertainties known to management that are reasonably likely to cause reported financial information not to be necessarily indicative of future operating results or of future financial condition. This includes descriptions and amounts of matters that have had a material impact on reported operations, as well as matters that are reasonably likely based on management’s assessment to have a material impact on future operations. The Company’s MD&A is divided into five sections:

• Overview

• Results of Operations

• Liquidity and Capital Resources

• Critical Accounting Estimates

• New Accounting Standards

This discussion and analysis should be read together with Danaher’s audited financial statements and related Notes thereto as of December 31, 2025 and 2024 and for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2025 included in this Annual Report. Management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations for 2023 is included in Item 7 of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K with respect to the year ended December 31, 2024 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and should be referred to for information regarding that period.

Unless otherwise indicated, all financial results in this report refer to continuing operations.

OVERVIEW

General

Refer to “Item 1. Business—General” for a discussion of Danaher’s strategic objectives and methodologies for delivering long-term shareholder value. Danaher is a multinational business with global operations. During 2025, approximately 59% of Danaher’s sales were derived from customers outside the United States. As a diversified, global business, Danaher’s operations are affected by worldwide, regional and industry-specific economic, political and geopolitical factors. Danaher’s geographic and industry diversity, as well as the range of its products and services, help mitigate the impact of any one industry or the economy of any single country, other than the United States, on its consolidated operating results. The Company’s individual businesses monitor key competitors and customers, including to the extent possible their sales, to gauge relative performance and the outlook for the future.

As a result of the Company’s geographic and industry diversity, the Company faces a variety of opportunities and challenges, including rapid technological development (particularly with respect to computing, automation, AI, mobile connectivity and digitization) in most of the Company’s served markets, the expansion and evolution of opportunities in high-growth markets, trends and costs associated with a global labor force, consolidation of the Company’s competitors, increasing regulation and a rapidly evolving trade environment. The Company operates in a highly competitive business environment in most markets, and the Company’s long-term growth and profitability will depend in particular on its ability to expand its business in high-growth geographies and higher-growth market segments, identify, consummate and integrate appropriate acquisitions and identify and consummate appropriate investments and strategic partnerships, develop innovative and differentiated new products and services with higher gross profit margins, expand and improve the effectiveness of the Company’s sales force, continue to reduce costs and improve operating efficiency and quality, and effectively address the demands of an increasingly regulated global environment and the rapidly evolving trade environment. The Company is making significant investments, organically and through acquisitions and investments, to address the rapid pace of technological change in its served markets and to position its manufacturing, R&D and customer-facing resources to be responsive to the Company’s customers throughout the world and improve the efficiency of the Company’s operations.

Business Performance

In 2025, the Company’s overall revenues and core sales increased 3.0% and 2.0%, respectively, compared to 2024. The increase in core sales is primarily due to higher core sales in the Biotechnology segment and, to a lesser extent, the Diagnostics segment, partially offset by lower core sales in the Life Sciences segment. Additionally, the impact of currency translation increased reported sales by 1.0% in 2025 compared to 2024. For the definition of “core sales” refer to “—Results of Operations” below.

Table of Contents

Geographically, the Company’s sales in developed markets in 2025 increased 3% compared to 2024 and core sales in developed markets were up low-single digits driven primarily by mid-single digit core sales increases in Western Europe. The increase in core sales in developed markets was primarily driven by increases in the Biotechnology and Diagnostics segments, partially offset by decreased year-over-year core sales in the Life Sciences segment. For the same period, sales in high-growth markets increased year-over-year by 2% and core sales in high-growth markets were up low-single digits as a mid-single digit decline in core revenue in China was more than offset by increased core sales in other regions. In the high-growth markets, the Biotechnology and Life Sciences segments’ increase in core sales was partially offset by core sales declines in the Diagnostics segment. High-growth markets represented approximately 29% of the Company’s total sales in 2025.

The Company’s net earnings from continuing operations for the year ended December 31, 2025 totaled approximately $3.6 billion or $5.03 per diluted common share, compared to approximately $3.9 billion or $5.29 per diluted common share for the year ended December 31, 2024. 2025 intangible asset impairments net of 2024 intangible asset impairments, increased other expenses and decreased interest income, net of increased gross profit, drove the year-over-year decline in net earnings from continuing operations and diluted net earnings per common share from continuing operations. Refer to “—Results of Operations” for further discussion of the year-over-year changes in net earnings and diluted net earnings per common share for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024.

Danaher operates a diversified global supply chain and sources parts and materials globally. Since early 2025, the U.S. government has implemented significant new tariffs on imports from a wide range of countries, which has also prompted retaliatory tariffs and other actions by a number of countries, including tariffs and export restrictions on certain manufacturing components imposed by China and tariffs pursuant to trade agreements the U.S. has entered into with certain countries. In addition, a number of new tariffs have been threatened by the U.S. and other countries, including tariffs in certain industry sectors. The U.S. and other countries continue to negotiate trade arrangements and tariff levels. In February 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (“IEEPA”), which the U.S. administration relied on to impose certain tariffs, does not authorize the administration to impose tariffs. In response, the administration announced plans to implement new tariffs under alternative statutory authority. The full impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling and the administration’s response remain uncertain; as of the date of this Annual Report, a number of tariffs issued by the United States and other countries remain in effect.

Based on the tariffs enacted and in effect as of December 31, 2025 (the “enacted tariffs”), the Company incurred incremental tariff costs for 2025 of less than $300 million. These incremental costs reflect increased costs of parts and materials used by the Company to produce products, as well as increased costs the Company incurred on finished goods shipped to customers. The Company largely offset the 2025 operating profit impact of the enacted tariffs with manufacturing footprint changes, supply chain adjustments, surcharges and additional productivity and cost savings actions.

To the extent the Company is unable to continue to largely offset the incremental cost from the enacted tariffs, enacted or threatened tariffs negatively impact future demand or the export restrictions negatively impact manufacturing, the Company’s revenue and profitability would be adversely impacted. If delayed or additional tariffs are implemented, the Company would incur additional tariff costs that could be material and the Company’s revenue and profitability could be adversely impacted.

In addition to changes in trade policy, the U.S. government has implemented a number of other regulatory, policy and personnel changes, including the elimination, downsizing and reduced funding of certain government agencies and programs and the cancellation or delay of government contracts and research grants. In addition, the U.S. government has changed the composition of and guidance from advisory panels on healthcare practices.

The full impact of the matters noted above on the Company, our customers, end-users and business partners, the overall economy and capital markets remains uncertain. In 2026 within the Biotechnology segment, the Company is assuming that the Bioprocessing sales growth trend will be similar to 2025, including continued growth in consumables driven by monoclonal antibody demand and the Company’s product offerings across the biologics workflow. In the Life Sciences segment, the Company assumes a modest improvement in end markets in 2026 compared to 2025, but anticipates sales growth rates will remain below historical levels given the current macro environment. In the Diagnostics segment, the Company assumes higher sales growth in 2026 compared to 2025 as the Company moves past the peak of headwinds from policy changes in China.

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

In this report, references to the non-GAAP measure of core sales (also referred to as core revenues or sales/revenues from existing businesses) refer to sales from continuing operations calculated according to generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) but excluding:

• sales from acquired businesses (as defined below); and

Table of Contents

• the impact of currency translation.

References to sales or operating profit attributable to acquisitions or acquired businesses refer to sales or operating profit, as applicable, from acquired businesses recorded prior to the first anniversary of the acquisition less any sales and operating profit, during the applicable period, attributable to divested product lines not considered discontinued operations. The portion of revenue attributable to currency translation is calculated as the difference between:

• the period-to-period change in revenue (as defined above); and

• the period-to-period change in revenue (as defined above) after applying current period foreign exchange rates to the prior year period.

Core sales growth (decline) should be considered in addition to, and not as a replacement for or superior to, sales, and may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies. Management believes that reporting this non-GAAP financial measure provides useful information to investors by helping identify underlying growth trends in Danaher’s business and facilitating comparisons of Danaher’s revenue performance with its performance in prior and future periods and to Danaher’s peers. Management also uses this non-GAAP financial measure to measure the Company’s operating and financial performance and as one of the performance measures in the Company’s executive short-term cash incentive program. The Company excludes the effect of currency translation from this measure because currency translation is not under management’s control, is subject to volatility and can obscure underlying business trends, and excludes the effect of acquisitions and divestiture-related items because the nature, size, timing and number of acquisitions and divestitures can vary dramatically from period-to-period and between the Company and its peers and can also obscure underlying business trends and make comparisons of long-term performance difficult.

Throughout this discussion, references to sales growth or decline refer to the impact of both price and unit sales and references to productivity improvements generally refer to improved cost efficiencies resulting from the ongoing application of DBS.

The Company deems acquisition-related transaction costs incurred in a given period to be significant (generally relating to the Company’s larger acquisitions) if it determines that such costs exceed the range of acquisition-related transaction costs typical for Danaher in a given period.

Sales Growth and Core Sales Growth (Decline)

Total sales growth (GAAP)

Impact of:

Acquisitions/divestitures

Currency exchange rates

Core sales growth (decline) (non-GAAP)

2025 Sales Compared to 2024

Total sales increased 3.0% on a year-over-year basis in 2025 as core sales increased 2.0% resulting from the factors discussed below by segment. The impact of changes in currency exchange rates increased reported sales by 1.0% on a year-over-year basis primarily due to the impact of the weakening of the U.S. dollar against most other major currencies in 2025. Price increases contributed 0.5% to sales growth on a year-over-year basis and are reflected as a component of core sales growth above.

Operating Profit Performance

Operating profit margins decreased 130 basis points from 20.4% for the year ended December 31, 2024 to 19.1% for the year ended December 31, 2025. The following factors impacted year-over-year operating profit margin comparisons.

2025 vs. 2024 operating profit margin comparisons were unfavorably impacted by:

• 2025 impairment charges related to a trade name in each of the Life Sciences and Diagnostics segments, impairment charges related to technology, other intangible assets and a facility in the Biotechnology segment and a facility in the Life Sciences segment, net of impairment charges related to a trade name in each of the Life Sciences and Diagnostics segments in 2024. Refer to Note 10 to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information - 120 basis points

• The impact of currency exchange rates and changes in the Company’s operational and administrative cost structure, net of higher 2025 core sales and the impact of product mix - 30 basis points

Table of Contents

• Incremental dilutive effect in 2025 of acquired businesses and the impact of a product line disposition which did not qualify as discontinued operations - 20 basis points

2025 vs. 2024 operating profit margin comparisons were favorably impacted by:

• 2024 loss on the termination of a commercial arrangement in the Diagnostics segment - 25 basis points

• 2024 acquisition-related fair value adjustment to inventory related to the acquisition of Abcam plc (“Abcam”) - 10 basis points

• 2025 resolution of an acquisition contingency in the Diagnostics segment - 5 basis points

Business Segments

Sales by business segment for the years ended December 31 are as follows ($ in millions):

Biotechnology

Life Sciences

Diagnostics

Total

For information regarding the Company’s sales by geographical region, refer to Note 5 to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements.

BIOTECHNOLOGY

The Biotechnology segment offers a broad range of equipment, consumables, software and services that are primarily used by customers to advance and accelerate the research, development, manufacture and delivery of biological medicines. The Company’s solutions support a broad range of biotherapeutics including monoclonal antibodies, recombinant proteins, replacement therapies such as insulin and vaccines, as well as novel cell, gene, mRNA and other nucleic acid therapies.

Biotechnology Selected Financial Data

Year Ended December 31

($ in millions)

Sales

Operating profit

Depreciation

Amortization of intangible assets

Operating profit as a % of sales

Depreciation as a % of sales

Amortization as a % of sales

Sales Growth (Decline) and Core Sales Growth (Decline)

Total sales growth (decline) (GAAP)

Impact of:

Currency exchange rates

Core sales growth (decline) (non-GAAP)

2025 Sales Compared to 2024

Price increases in the segment contributed 2.0% to sales growth on a year-over-year basis during 2025 as compared with 2024 and are reflected as a component of core sales above.

During 2025, total Biotechnology segment sales increased 8.0% primarily as a result of increased core sales in the bioprocessing business, and to a lesser extent, the impact of currency exchange rates. The year-over-year increase in core sales was led by increased sales of consumables, partially offset by declines in equipment sales. Geographically, the increase in core sales was led by North America and Western Europe.

Table of Contents

The year-over-year core sales increase in the segment was led by high-single digit increases in core sales in the bioprocessing business and was primarily driven by improved consumables demand from large pharmaceutical and CDMO customers, partially offset by lower year-over-year demand for equipment. Core sales in the discovery and medical business decreased year-over-year primarily due to lower demand for protein research equipment in the life science research end-market.

Operating Profit Performance

Operating profit margins increased 70 basis points during 2025 as compared to 2024. The following factors impacted year-over-year operating profit margin comparisons.

2025 vs. 2024 operating profit margin comparisons were favorably impacted by:

• Higher 2025 core sales and the impact of product mix, net of the impact of currency exchange rates and changes in leverage from the Company’s operational and administrative cost structure - 200 basis points

2025 vs. 2024 operating profit margin comparisons were unfavorably impacted by:

• 2025 impairment charges related to technology, other intangible assets and a facility - 130 basis points

Amortization of intangible assets as a percentage of sales decreased in 2025 as compared with 2024 due to the increase in sales.

LIFE SCIENCES

The Life Sciences segment offers a broad range of instruments, consumables, services and software that are primarily used by customers to study the basic building blocks of life, including DNA and RNA, nucleic acid, proteins, metabolites and cells, in order to understand the causes of disease, identify new therapies, and test and manufacture new drugs, vaccines and gene editing technologies. Additionally, the segment provides products and consumables used to filter and remove contaminants from a variety of liquids and gases in many end-market applications.

As discussed in Note 10 to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements, during the third quarter of 2025, the Company reorganized and integrated certain businesses within its Life Sciences segment to better serve the Company’s customers in new market segments and to respond to current market conditions.

Life Sciences Selected Financial Data

Year Ended December 31

($ in millions)

Sales

Operating profit

Depreciation

Amortization of intangible assets

Operating profit as a % of sales

Depreciation as a % of sales

Amortization as a % of sales

Sales Growth and Core Sales Decline

Total sales growth (GAAP)

Impact of:

Acquisitions

Currency exchange rates

Core sales decline (non-GAAP)

2025 Sales Compared to 2024

Price increases in the segment contributed 0.5% to the change in sales on a year-over-year basis during 2025 as compared with 2024 and are reflected as a component of core sales above.

During 2025, total segment sales remained flat, as the impact of currency exchange rates and acquisitions were offset by decreased core sales. The year-over-year decrease in total segment core sales was driven by declines in both consumables and equipment sales. Lower funding levels at emerging biotechnology customers and in the academic and government end-markets reduced demand for the segment’s products during the period. Geographically, the core sales decline was led by North America.

Table of Contents

The year-over-year decrease in segment core sales was led by the life science consumables business, primarily in North America, driven by lower demand for the plasmids and mRNA product lines at two large customers and lower funding levels at emerging biotechnology and academic research customers. In the life sciences instruments business, core sales decreased during 2025, as increased demand for consumables was more than offset by decreased demand for equipment. Core sales declines in the microscopy business offset increased core sales in the flow cytometry and lab automation solutions business and the mass spectrometry business. In the filtration business, core sales increased due to increased demand in the microelectronic and aerospace end-markets which more than offset decreased year-over-year demand in energy-related end-markets.

Operating Profit Performance

Operating profit margins declined 490 basis points during 2025 as compared to 2024. The following factors impacted year-over-year operating profit margin comparisons.

2025 vs. 2024 operating profit margin comparisons were unfavorably impacted by:

• 2025 impairment charges related to a trade name and a facility, net of an impairment charge related to a trade name in 2024. Refer to Note 10 to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information - 305 basis points

• The impact of changes in leverage from the Company’s operational and administrative cost structure, the impact of product mix, lower 2025 core sales and an increase in costs incurred for productivity improvement actions - 190 basis points

• The incremental dilutive effect in 2025 of acquired businesses - 30 basis points

2025 vs. 2024 operating profit margin comparisons were favorably impacted by:

• 2024 acquisition-related fair value adjustment to inventory related to the acquisition of Abcam - 35 basis points

Depreciation and amortization of intangible assets increased as a percentage of sales during 2025 as compared with 2024, primarily as a result of acquisitions.

DIAGNOSTICS

The Diagnostics segment offers clinical instruments, consumables, software and services that hospitals, physicians’ offices, reference laboratories and other critical care settings use to diagnose disease and make treatment decisions.

Diagnostics Selected Financial Data

Year Ended December 31

($ in millions)

Sales

Operating profit

Depreciation

Amortization of intangible assets

Operating profit as a % of sales

Depreciation as a % of sales

Amortization as a % of sales

Sales Growth and Core Sales Growth

Total sales growth (GAAP)

Impact of:

Divestitures

Currency exchange rates

Core sales growth (non-GAAP)

2025 Sales Compared to 2024

Price decreases in the segment of 1.0%, primarily attributable to the volume-based procurement program and healthcare reimbursement changes in China and to a lesser extent, sales promotions, negatively impacted the year-over-year change in sales during 2025 and are reflected as a component of core sales above.

Table of Contents

During 2025, total segment sales increased 1.5% primarily as a result of increased core sales and to a lesser extent, currency exchange rates, net of the impact of divestitures. The increase in segment core sales was primarily driven by increased year-over-year demand for consumables. Geographically, increased core sales in North America and most other major markets were partially offset by decreased core sales in China attributable to the healthcare policy dynamics discussed above.

During the year, core sales in the molecular diagnostics business decreased on a year-over-year basis as increased core sales of non-respiratory tests were more than offset by decreased core sales of respiratory tests. The Company believes that demand for respiratory tests in the second half of 2025 was driven in part by customers purchasing in preparation for the respiratory season and if the respiratory season is less severe than anticipated, demand may be adversely impacted. In the segment’s clinical diagnostics businesses, core sales increased on a year-over-year basis, led by the pathology diagnostics business and, to a lesser extent, the clinical lab and acute care diagnostics businesses. In the clinical lab business, increased sales outside of China, led by North America, more than offset year-over-year declines in China.

Operating Profit Performance

Operating profit margins declined 10 basis points during 2025 as compared to 2024. The following factors impacted year-over-year operating profit margin comparisons.

2025 vs. 2024 operating profit margin comparisons were unfavorably impacted by:

• The impact of changes in leverage from the Company’s operational and administrative cost structure, the impact of currency exchange rates and product mix and an increase in costs incurred for productivity improvement actions, net of higher 2025 core sales - 95 basis points

• 2025 impact of a product line disposition which did not qualify as discontinued operations - 15 basis points

2025 vs. 2024 operating profit margin comparisons were favorably impacted by:

• 2024 loss on the termination of a commercial arrangement - 60 basis points

• 2024 impairment charge related to a trade name, net of a 2025 impairment charge related to a trade name - 30 basis points

• 2025 resolution of an acquisition contingency - 10 basis points

COST OF SALES AND GROSS PROFIT

Year Ended December 31

($ in millions)

Sales

Cost of sales

Gross profit

Gross profit margin

The year-over-year increase in cost of sales during 2025 as compared with 2024 was due primarily to the impact of higher year-over-year sales volumes and the impact of currency exchange rates. The increase in 2025 also reflected $29 million of impairment charges related to facilities in the Biotechnology and Life Sciences segments. These increases were partially offset by a $25 million acquisition-related charge associated with the fair value adjustment to inventory recorded in 2024 in connection with the acquisition of Abcam.

The year-over-year decrease in gross profit margin during 2025 as compared with 2024 was due primarily to the impact of currency exchange rates, tariff costs and the 2025 impairment charges discussed above, net of the net positive impact from the gross profit margin of recent acquisitions, the 2024 acquisition-related charge discussed above and the impact of product mix.

OPERATING EXPENSES

Year Ended December 31

($ in millions)

Sales

Selling, general and administrative (“SG&A”) expenses

Research and development expenses

SG&A as a % of sales

R&D as a % of sales

Table of Contents

SG&A expenses as a percentage of sales increased 100 basis points on a year-over-year basis for 2025 compared with 2024. The year-over-year increase was primarily driven by 2025 impairment charges of $533 million, and to a lesser extent, by a year-over-year increase in costs incurred for productivity improvement actions, partially offset by 2024 impairment charges of $265 million, a 2024 loss on the termination of a commercial arrangement of $56 million, incremental year-over-year cost savings associated with continuing productivity improvement initiatives and cost structure improvements and a 2025 gain of $10 million on the resolution of an acquisition contingency. Refer to Note 10 to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding the impairments.

R&D expenses (consisting principally of internal and contract engineering personnel costs) decreased as a percentage of sales in 2025 as compared with 2024, primarily due to the impact of higher year-over-year sales.

NONOPERATING INCOME (EXPENSE)

Nonoperating income (expense) consists primarily of net unrealized and realized gains and losses resulting from changes in the fair value of the Company’s investments in equity securities and investments in partnerships, the non-service cost components of net periodic benefit costs, gains on the sale of product lines and impairments of equity method investments. Refer to Note 8 to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

INTEREST COSTS

Interest expense of $265 million for 2025 was $13 million lower than in 2024, due primarily to lower average interest rates on the Company’s commercial paper borrowings in 2025 compared to 2024, partially offset by the impact of currency exchange rates and higher balances on borrowings in 2025 compared to 2024.

Interest income of $30 million for 2025 was $87 million lower than in 2024, due to lower average cash balances in 2025 primarily as a result of the use of cash for share repurchases.

For a further description of the Company’s debt and cross-currency swap derivative contracts related to the debt as of December 31, 2025 refer to Notes 13 and 14 to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements.

INCOME TAXES

General

Income tax expense and deferred tax assets and liabilities reflect management’s assessment of future taxes expected to be paid on items reflected in the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements. The Company records the tax effect of discrete items and items that are reported net of their tax effects in the period in which they occur.

The Company’s effective tax rate can be affected by changes in the mix of earnings in countries with different statutory tax rates (including as a result of business acquisitions and dispositions), changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities, accruals related to contingent tax liabilities and period-to-period changes in such accruals, the results of audits and examinations of previously filed tax returns (as further discussed below), the expiration of statutes of limitations, the implementation of tax planning strategies, tax rulings, court decisions, settlements with tax authorities, changes in tax laws and regulations, and legislative policy changes that may result from the OECD’s initiative on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting. For a description of the tax treatment of earnings that are planned to be reinvested indefinitely outside the United States, refer to “—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Cash and Cash Requirements” below.

The amount of income taxes the Company pays is subject to ongoing audits by federal, state and non-U.S. tax authorities, which often result in proposed assessments. Management performs a comprehensive review of its global tax positions on a quarterly basis. Based on these reviews, which take into account the results of discussions and resolutions of matters with certain tax authorities and the other factors referenced in the prior paragraph, reserves for contingent tax liabilities are accrued or adjusted as necessary. For a discussion of risks related to these and other tax matters, refer to “Item 1A. Risk Factors”.

Year-Over-Year Changes in the Tax Provision and Effective Tax Rate

Year Ended December 31

Effective tax rate from continuing operations

The Company operates globally, including in certain jurisdictions with lower tax rates than the U.S. federal statutory rate. Therefore, the impact of Danaher’s global operations and benefits from tax credits and incentives contributes to a lower effective tax rate compared to the U.S. federal statutory tax rate. For each period presented, the effective tax rate differs from the U.S. federal statutory rate of 21.0% principally due to the impact of the Company’s global operations, research tax credits, foreign-derived intangible income and aggregate net discrete benefits or charges.

Table of Contents

For the year ended December 31, 2025, the effective tax rate was reduced by the tax effect from intangible asset impairments in jurisdictions with higher statutory tax rates than the Company’s effective tax rate and discrete tax benefits from the release of reserves for uncertain tax positions due to audit settlements and the expiration of statutes of limitation and the remeasurement of deferred taxes in a jurisdiction which enacted a tax rate change, partially offset by charges related to changes in estimates associated with prior period uncertain tax positions and valuation allowances recorded on foreign operating losses and tax credits in certain foreign jurisdictions. These items decreased the reported rate on a net basis by 1.5%.

For the year ended December 31, 2024, the effective tax rate was reduced by the tax effect from intangible asset impairments in a jurisdiction with a higher statutory tax rate than the Company’s effective tax rate and discrete tax benefits from excess tax benefits from stock-based compensation, the release of reserves for uncertain tax positions due to the expiration of statutes of limitation and changes in estimates related to prior year tax filing positions, net of charges related to changes in estimates associated with prior period uncertain tax positions. These items decreased the reported rate on a net basis by 1.4%.

The Company conducts business globally and files numerous consolidated and separate income tax returns in the U.S. federal and state and non-U.S. jurisdictions. The non-U.S. countries in which the Company has a significant presence include China, Denmark, Germany, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Excluding these jurisdictions, the Company believes that a change in the statutory tax rate of any individual non-U.S. country would not have a material effect on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements given the geographic dispersion of the Company’s taxable income.

The Company and its subsidiaries are routinely examined by various U.S. and non-U.S. taxing authorities. The IRS has completed substantially all of the examinations of the Company’s federal income tax returns through 2015 and is currently examining certain of the Company’s federal income tax returns for 2016 through 2022. In addition, the Company has subsidiaries in Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and various other countries, states and provinces that are currently under audit for years ranging from 2004 through 2023.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, the IRS proposed significant adjustments to the Company’s taxable income for the years 2016 through 2018 with respect to the deferral of tax on certain premium income related to the Company’s self-insurance programs. For income tax purposes, the recognition of premium income has been deferred in accordance with U.S. tax laws related to insurance. The proposed adjustments would have increased the Company’s taxable income over the 2016 through 2018 periods by approximately $2.5 billion. In the first quarter of 2023, the Company settled these proposed adjustments with the IRS, although the audit is still open with respect to other matters for the 2016 through 2018 period. The impact of the settlement with respect to the Company’s self-insurance policies was not material to the Company’s financial statements, including cash flows and the effective tax rate. As the settlement with the IRS was specific to the audit period, the settlement does not preclude the IRS from proposing similar adjustments to the Company’s self-insurance programs with respect to periods after 2018. Management believes the positions the Company has taken in its U.S. tax returns are in accordance with the relevant tax laws.

Tax authorities in Denmark have issued tax assessments related to interest accrued by certain of the Company’s subsidiaries for the years 2004 through 2015, totaling approximately DKK 2.1 billion including applicable accrued interest (approximately $326 million based on the exchange rate as of December 31, 2025). Management believes the positions the Company has taken in Denmark are in accordance with the relevant tax laws and is actively defending them under appeal to the Danish National Tax Tribunal. The Company intends on pursuing this matter to the Danish High Court and Danish Supreme Court should the current appeal be unsuccessful. While the ultimate resolution is uncertain and may take years to resolve, taking into account the provisions and payments the Company has previously made related to these assessments to mitigate further interest accrual claims, the Company does not expect the resolution of this matter to have a future material adverse impact on the Company’s financial statements, including its cash flow and effective tax rate.

The Company expects its 2026 effective tax rate to be approximately 17.0% which is higher than the 2025 rate due primarily to the impact of net discrete tax benefits on the 2025 effective tax rate. Any future legislative changes in the U.S. and/or potential tax reform in other jurisdictions could cause the Company’s 2026 effective tax rate to differ from this estimate.

The OECD introduced Global Anti-Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (“BEPS”) Pillar 2 rules with new taxing mechanisms under which multi-national entities would pay a minimum level of tax. Numerous countries, including European Union member states, have enacted or are expected to enact related legislation. The Company continues to monitor the impact of these new rules but does not anticipate that they will have a material impact on the Company’s effective tax rate.

On July 4, 2025, the OBBBA was enacted, which includes permanent extensions of most expiring Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”) provisions as well as international tax changes. The application of the OBBBA to the Company did not have a material impact on its financial statements during the year ended December 31, 2025.

Table of Contents

Refer to Note 7 to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information related to income taxes.

DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS

As further discussed in Note 3 to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements, on September 30, 2023 (the “Distribution Date”), the Company completed the separation (the “Veralto Separation”) of its former Environmental & Applied Solutions business by distributing to Danaher stockholders on a pro rata basis all of the issued and outstanding common stock of Veralto Corporation (“Veralto”), the entity Danaher incorporated to hold such businesses. The accounting requirements for reporting the Veralto Separation as a discontinued operation were met when the Veralto Separation was completed. On July 2, 2016, the Company completed the separation (the “Fortive Separation”) of its former Test & Measurement segment, Industrial Technologies segment (excluding the product identification business) and the retail/consumer petroleum businesses by distributing to Danaher stockholders on a pro rata basis all of the issued and outstanding common stock of Fortive Corporation (“Fortive”), the entity the Company incorporated to hold such businesses. The accounting requirements for reporting the Fortive Separation as a discontinued operation were met when the Fortive Separation was completed. In 2025, the Company recorded an income tax benefit of $14 million related to the release of previously provided reserves due to audit settlements and the expiration of statutes of limitations associated with uncertain tax positions on certain of the Company’s tax returns which were jointly filed with Fortive and Veralto entities. This income tax benefit is included in earnings from discontinued operations, net of income taxes in the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Earnings.

In 2023, earnings from discontinued operations, net of income taxes, were $543 million and reflected the operating results of the Veralto businesses prior to the Veralto Separation, net of certain costs associated with the Veralto Separation including costs related to establishing Veralto as a stand-alone entity and related legal, accounting and investment banking fees.

COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

Comprehensive income increased by approximately $4.2 billion in 2025 as compared to 2024, primarily driven by the impact of gains from foreign currency translation adjustments and cash flow hedges in 2025 compared to losses in 2024, partially offset by lower net earnings in 2025 compared to 2024. The Company recorded a foreign currency translation gain of approximately $2.7 billion for 2025 compared to a loss of approximately $1.5 billion for 2024. The foreign currency translation gains recorded in 2025 were primarily driven by the change in the exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and the Swedish krona and the euro. Foreign currency translation adjustments reflect the gain or loss resulting from the impact of the change in currency exchange rates on the Company’s foreign operations as they are translated to the Company’s reporting currency, the U.S. dollar. The Company recorded a pension and postretirement plan benefit gain of $115 million for 2025 compared to a gain of $101 million for 2024. The Company recorded gains from cash flow hedge adjustments related to the Company’s derivative contracts in 2025 of $231 million compared to losses of $113 million in 2024.

FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS AND RISK MANAGEMENT

The Company is exposed to market risk from changes in interest rates, currency exchange rates, equity prices and commodity prices as well as credit risk, each of which could impact its Consolidated Financial Statements. The Company generally addresses its exposure to these risks through its normal operating and financing activities. The Company also periodically uses derivative financial instruments to manage currency exchange risks and interest rate risks. In addition, the Company’s broad-based business activities help to reduce the impact that volatility in any particular area or related areas may have on its financial statements as a whole.

Interest Rate Risk

The Company manages interest cost using a mixture of fixed-rate and at times variable-rate debt. A change in interest rates on fixed-rate debt impacts the fair value of the debt but not the Company’s earnings or cash flow because the interest on such debt is fixed. Generally, the fair market value of fixed-rate debt will increase as interest rates fall and decrease as interest rates rise. As of December 31, 2025, an increase of 100 basis points in interest rates would have decreased the fair value of the Company’s fixed-rate long-term debt by approximately $1.5 billion.

As of December 31, 2025, the Company had no variable-rate debt obligations. The interest rates of the Company’s commercial paper borrowings are fixed based on short-term market rates at the time of issuance (refer to Note 13 to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements for information regarding the Company’s outstanding commercial paper balances as of December 31, 2025). As these shorter duration obligations mature, the Company expects to issue additional short-term commercial paper obligations to refinance all or part of these borrowings, to the extent commercial paper markets are available. As a result, the Company’s primary interest rate exposure results from changes in short-term interest rates. In 2025, the average annual interest rate associated with the Company’s outstanding commercial

Table of Contents

paper borrowings was approximately 2.5%. A hypothetical increase of this average by 100 basis points would have increased the Company’s 2025 interest expense by approximately $11 million.

Refer to Note 14 for discussion of the Company’s cross-currency swap derivative contracts and interest rate swap agreements.

Currency Exchange Rate Risk

The Company faces transactional exchange rate risk from transactions with customers in countries outside the United States and from intercompany transactions between affiliates. Transactional exchange rate risk arises from the purchase and sale of goods and services in currencies other than Danaher’s functional currency or the functional currency of its applicable subsidiary. The Company also faces translational exchange rate risk related to the translation of financial statements of its foreign operations into U.S. dollars, Danaher’s functional currency. Costs incurred and sales recorded by subsidiaries operating outside of the United States are translated into U.S. dollars using exchange rates effective during the respective period. As a result, the Company is exposed to movements in the exchange rates of various currencies against the U.S. dollar. In particular, the Company has more sales in European currencies than it has expenses in those currencies. Therefore, when European currencies strengthen or weaken against the U.S. dollar, operating profits are increased or decreased, respectively. The effect of a change in currency exchange rates on the Company’s net investment in non-U.S. subsidiaries is reflected in the accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) component of stockholders’ equity.

Currency exchange rates positively impacted 2025 reported sales on a year-over-year basis primarily due to the weakening of the U.S. dollar against most major currencies during 2025. Strengthening of the U.S. dollar against other major currencies in 2026 compared to the exchange rates in effect as of December 31, 2025 would adversely impact the Company’s sales and results of operations on an overall basis. Any weakening of the U.S. dollar against other major currencies in 2026 compared to the exchange rates in effect as of December 31, 2025 would positively impact the Company’s sales and results of operations.

The Company has generally accepted the exposure to exchange rate movements without using derivative financial instruments to manage this transactional exchange risk, although the Company has used foreign currency-denominated debt and cross-currency swaps to hedge a portion of its net investments in non-U.S. operations against adverse movements in exchange rates. Both positive and negative movements in currency exchange rates against the U.S. dollar will continue to affect the reported amount of sales and net earnings in the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements. In addition, the Company has assets and liabilities held in foreign currencies. A 10% depreciation in major currencies relative to the U.S. dollar as of December 31, 2025 would have reduced foreign currency-denominated net assets and stockholders’ equity by approximately $1.9 billion. Refer to Note 14 to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements for information regarding the Company’s hedging of a portion of its net investment in non-U.S. operations.

Equity Price Risk

The Company’s investment portfolio from time to time includes publicly-traded equity securities that are sensitive to fluctuations in market price. As of December 31, 2025, the Company held no shares of publicly-traded equity securities, excluding equity-method investments. Additionally, the Company holds non-marketable equity investments in privately held companies that may be impacted by equity price risks. These non-marketable equity investments are accounted for under the Fair Value Alternative method with changes in fair value recorded in earnings. Volatility in the equity markets or other fair value considerations could affect the value of these investments and require losses or gains to be recognized in earnings. R efer to Note 11 to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding the Company’s equity investments.

Commodity Price Risk

For a discussion of risks relating to commodity prices, refer to “Item 1A. Risk Factors.”

Credit Risk

The Company is exposed to potential credit losses in the event of nonperformance by counterparties to its financial instruments. Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to credit risk consist of cash and temporary investments, receivables from customers and derivatives. The Company places cash and temporary investments with various high-quality financial institutions throughout the world and exposure is limited at any one institution. Although the Company typically does not obtain collateral or other security to secure these obligations, it does regularly monitor the third-party depository institutions that hold its cash and cash equivalents. The Company’s emphasis is primarily on safety and liquidity of principal and secondarily on maximizing yield on those funds.

In addition, concentrations of credit risk arising from receivables from customers are limited due to the diversity of the Company’s customers. The Company’s businesses perform credit evaluations of their customers’ financial conditions as deemed appropriate and also obtain collateral or other security when deemed appropriate.

Table of Contents

The Company enters into derivative transactions infrequently and typically with high-quality financial institutions, so that exposure at any one institution is limited.

LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES

Management assesses the Company’s liquidity in terms of its ability to generate cash to fund its operating, investing and financing activities. The Company continues to generate substantial cash from operating activities and believes that its operating cash flow, cash on hand and other sources of liquidity will be sufficient to allow it to continue investing in existing businesses (including capital expenditures), consummating strategic acquisitions and investments, paying interest and servicing debt, paying dividends and funding restructuring activities, as well as to repurchase common stock when deemed appropriate and manage its capital structure on a short-term and long-term basis.

The Company has relied primarily on borrowings under its commercial paper program to address liquidity requirements that exceed the capacity provided by its operating cash flows and cash on hand, while also accessing the capital markets from time to time including to secure financing for more significant acquisitions or to take advantage of favorable interest rate environments or other market conditions. Subject to any limitations that may result from market disruptions, the Company anticipates following the same approach in the future.

Overview of Cash Flows and Liquidity

Following is an overview of the Company’s cash flows and liquidity for the years ended December 31:

($ in millions)

Total operating cash flows provided by continuing operations

Cash paid for acquisitions

Payments for additions to property, plant and equipment

Proceeds from sales of property, plant and equipment

Payments for purchases of investments

Proceeds from sales of investments

Proceeds from sale of product line

All other investing activities

Total cash used in investing activities from continuing operations

Total investing cash used in discontinued operations

Net cash used in investing activities

Proceeds from the issuance of common stock in connection with stock-based compensation

Payment of dividends

Net (repayments of) proceeds from borrowings (maturities of 90 days or less)

Borrowings (maturities longer than 90 days)

Repayments of borrowings (maturities longer than 90 days)

Distribution from discontinued operations

Payments for repurchase of common stock

All other financing activities

Net cash (used in) provided by financing activities for continuing operations

Cash distributions to Veralto Corporation, net

Net cash used in financing activities

As of December 31, 2025, the Company held approximately $4.6 billion of cash and cash equivalents.

Operating Activities

Cash flows from operating activities can fluctuate significantly from period-to-period as working capital needs and the timing of payments for income taxes, restructuring activities and productivity improvement initiatives, pension funding and other items impact reported cash flows.

Table of Contents

Operating cash flows from continuing operations were approximately $6.4 billion for 2025, a decrease of $272 million, or 4%, as compared to 2024. The year-over-year change in operating cash flows from 2024 to 2025 was primarily attributable to the following factors:

• 2025 operating cash flows from continuing operations reflected a decrease of $299 million in net earnings from continuing operations in 2025 as compared to 2024.

• Net earnings from continuing operations for 2025 also included $548 million higher year-over-year noncash charges for impairments, unrealized investment gains/losses, intangible asset amortization and depreciation and stock compensation expense in 2025 as compared to 2024, net of a year-over-year decrease in amortization of an acquisition-related inventory step-up and a 2025 pretax gain on the sale of a product line. Amortization expense primarily relates to the amortization of intangible assets and inventory fair value adjustments. Depreciation expense relates to both the Company’s manufacturing and operating facilities as well as instrumentation leased to customers under operating-type lease (“OTL”) arrangements. Depreciation, amortization, impairments and stock compensation are noncash expenses that decrease earnings without a corresponding impact to operating cash flows. Unrealized investment gains/losses impact net earnings from continuing operations without immediately impacting cash flows as the cash flow impact from investments occurs when the invested capital is returned to the Company.

• The aggregate of trade accounts receivable, inventories and trade accounts payable used $265 million in operating cash flows from continuing operations during 2025, compared to $497 million of operating cash flows generated in 2024. The amount of cash flow generated from or used by the aggregate of trade accounts receivable, inventories and trade accounts payable depends upon how effectively the Company manages the cash conversion cycle, which effectively represents the number of days that elapse from the day it pays for the purchase of raw materials and components to the collection of cash from its customers and can be significantly impacted by the timing of collections and payments in a period.

• The aggregate of prepaid expenses and other assets, deferred income taxes and accrued expenses and other liabilities used $454 million in operating cash flows during 2025, compared to $695 million used in 2024. The timing of cash payments and refunds for taxes and the impact of deferred tax benefits and charges, various employee-related liabilities, customer funding and accrued expenses drove the majority of this change.

Investing Activities

Cash flows relating to investing activities consist primarily of cash used for capital expenditures, including instruments leased to customers, acquisitions, investments and cash proceeds from divestitures of businesses or assets.

Net cash used in investing activities was approximately $1.2 billion during 2025 compared to approximately $2.0 billion of net cash used in 2024. The decrease in net cash used in 2025 compared to 2024 was primarily a result of a decrease in cash paid for acquisitions and purchases of capital expenditures and investments, partially offset by lower proceeds from the sales of investments.

Acquisitions, Divestitures and Investment Activity

For a discussion of the Company’s acquisitions and divestitures refer to “—Overview” and Notes 2 and 3 to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements. In addition, in 2025 and 2024, the Company invested $127 million and $331 million, respectively, in non-marketable equity securities and partnerships and received $12 million and $253 million, respectively, from the sale of non-marketable equity securities and partnerships.

Capital Expenditures

Though the relative significance of particular categories of capital investment can change from period to period, capital expenditures are typically made for increasing manufacturing capacity, the manufacture of instruments that are used in OTL arrangements, replacing equipment, purchasing buildings, supporting new product development and improving information technology systems. Capital expenditures totaled approximately $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion in 2025 and 2024, respectively.

In 2025 and 2024, the Company recorded amounts related to government assistance that offset operating expenses of $50 million and $43 million, respectively, and purchases of property, plant and equipment of $107 million and $198 million, respectively. Property, plant and equipment purchased using funds provided by governments are recorded net of government assistance.

Financing Activities

Cash flows from financing activities consist primarily of cash flows associated with the issuance and repayments of commercial paper, issuance and repayment of long-term debt, borrowings under committed credit facilities, issuance and

Table of Contents

repurchases of common stock, issuance of preferred stock, payments of cash dividends to shareholders and proceeds from the Veralto Separation. Financing activities used cash of approximately $3.0 billion during 2025 compared to approximately $8.4 billion of cash used during 2024. The year-over-year decrease in cash used by financing activities was due primarily to lower repurchases of the Company’s common stock in 2025 compared to 2024, as well as higher long-term borrowings in 2025 compared to 2024 and lower repayments of borrowings, partially offset by higher dividend payments in 2025 compared to 2024. In 2026, the Company anticipates paying approximately $24 million of excise tax related to the 2025 share repurchases.

Total debt was approximately $18.4 billion and $16.0 billion as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively, including notes payable and current portion of long-term debt of $2 million and $505 million as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. As of December 31, 2025, the Company had the ability to incur approximately $3.9 billion of additional indebtedness in direct borrowings or under the Company’s outstanding commercial paper facilities based on the amounts available under the Company’s $5.0 billion unsecured, multiyear revolving credit facility (“Credit Facility”) which were not being used to backstop outstanding commercial paper balances. As of December 31, 2025, the Company has classified approximately $3.5 billion of its borrowings outstanding under the euro-denominated commercial paper program, the 2026 Biopharma Euronotes and the 2026 Euronotes as long-term debt in the Consolidated Balance Sheet as the Company has the intent and ability, as supported by availability under the Credit Facility, to refinance these borrowings for at least one year from the balance sheet date. As commercial paper obligations mature, the Company expects to issue additional short-term commercial paper obligations to refinance all or part of these borrowings, to the extent commercial paper markets are available.

Under the Company’s U.S. dollar and euro-denominated commercial paper program, the notes are typically issued at a discount from par, generally based on the ratings assigned to the Company by credit rating agencies at the time of the issuance and prevailing market rates measured by reference to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate or Euro Interbank Offer Rate, depending on the applicable currency of the borrowing.

On October 10, 2025, DH Switzerland Finance S.a.r.l., a wholly-owned finance subsidiary of the Company, completed an underwritten offering of Swiss franc-denominated bonds (“Swiss Bonds”) and received net proceeds from the issuance, after underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses, of approximately CHF 1.2 billion (approximately $1.6 billion based on currency exchange rates as of the date of the pricing of the Swiss Bonds). R efer to Note 13 to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding the Company’s financing activities and indebtedness, including the Company’s outstanding debt as of December  31, 2025, and the Company’s commercial paper program and Credit Facility . As of December 31, 2025, the Company was in compliance with all of its respective debt covenants.

Shelf Registration Statement

The Company has filed a “well-known seasoned issuer” shelf registration statement on Form S-3 with the SEC that registers an indeterminate amount of debt securities, common stock, preferred stock, warrants, depositary shares, purchase contracts and units for future issuance. The Company expects to use net proceeds realized by the Company from future securities sales off this shelf registration statement for general corporate purposes, including without limitation repayment or refinancing of debt or other corporate obligations, acquisitions, capital expenditures, share repurchases, dividends and/or working capital.

Stock Repurchase Program

Please see Note 18 to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements for a description of the Company’s stock repurchase programs and repurchases of common stock.

Dividends

The Company declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.32 per share of Company common stock that was paid on January 30, 2026 to holders of record on December 26, 2025. Aggregate 2025 and 2024 cash payments for dividends on Company common stock were $878 million and $768 million, respectively. The year-over-year increase in dividend payments in 2025 primarily related to an increase in the quarterly dividend rate on common stock beginning with the dividend paid in the second quarter of 2025, partially offset by lower average common stock outstanding.

Cash and Cash Requirements

As of December 31, 2025, the Company held approximately $4.6 billion of cash and cash equivalents that were on deposit with financial institutions or invested in highly liquid investment-grade debt instruments with a maturity of 90 days or less with an approximate weighted average annual interest rate of 1.6%. Of the cash and cash equivalents, approximately $1.4 billion was held within the U.S. and approximately $3.2 billion was held outside of the U.S. The Company will continue to have cash requirements to support general corporate purposes, which may include working capital needs, capital expenditures, acquisitions and investments, paying interest and servicing debt, paying taxes and any related

Table of Contents

interest or penalties, funding its restructuring activities and pension plans as required, paying dividends to shareholders, repurchasing shares of the Company’s common stock and supporting other business needs.

The Company generally intends to use available cash and internally generated funds to meet these cash requirements, but in the event that additional liquidity is required, the Company may also borrow under its commercial paper programs (if available) or borrow under the Company’s Credit Facility, enter into new credit facilities and either borrow directly thereunder or use such credit facilities to backstop additional borrowing capacity under its commercial paper programs (if available) and/or access the capital markets. The Company also may from time to time seek to access the capital markets to take advantage of favorable interest rate environments or other market conditions.

While repatriation of some cash held outside the U.S. may be restricted by local laws, most of the Company’s foreign cash could be repatriated to the U.S. Following enactment of the TCJA, in general, repatriation of cash to the U.S. can be completed with no material incremental U.S. tax; however, repatriation of cash could subject the Company to non-U.S. taxes on distributions. The cash that the Company’s non-U.S. subsidiaries hold for indefinite reinvestment is generally used to finance non-U.S. operations and investments, including acquisitions. The income taxes, if any, that would be applicable to the repatriation of such earnings (including basis differences in our non-U.S. subsidiaries) are not readily determinable. As of December 31, 2025, management believes that the Company has sufficient sources of liquidity to satisfy its cash needs, including its cash needs in the U.S.

During 2025, the Company contributed $9 million to its U.S. defined benefit pension plans and $41 million to its non-U.S. defined benefit pension plans. During 2026, the Company’s cash contribution requirements for its U.S. and its non-U.S. defined benefit pension plans are forecasted to be approximately $8 million and $41 million, respectively. The ultimate amounts to be contributed depend upon, among other things, legal requirements, underlying asset returns, the plan’s funded status, the anticipated tax deductibility of the contribution, local practices, market conditions, interest rates and other factors.

Contractual and Other Obligations

For a description of the Company’s debt and lease obligations, commitments, and litigation and contingencies, refer to Notes 9, 13, 16 and 17 to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements.

Legal Proceedings

Refer to Note 17 to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements for information regarding legal proceedings and contingencies, and for a discussion of risks related to legal proceedings and contingencies, refer to “Item 1A. Risk Factors.”

CRITICAL ACCOUNTING ESTIMATES

Management’s discussion and analysis of the Company’s financial condition and results of operations is based upon the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements, which have been prepared in accordance with GAAP. The preparation of these financial statements requires management to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. The Company bases these estimates and judgments on historical experience, the current economic environment and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results may differ materially from these estimates and judgments.

The Company believes the following accounting estimates are most critical to an understanding of its financial statements. Estimates are considered to be critical if they meet both of the following criteria: (1) the estimate requires assumptions about material matters that are uncertain at the time the estimate is made, and (2) material changes in the estimate are reasonably likely from period-to-period. For a detailed discussion on the application of these and other accounting estimates, refer to Note 1 to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements.

Acquired Intangibles —The Company’s business acquisitions typically result in the recognition of goodwill, developed technology and other intangible assets, which affect the amount of future period amortization expense and possible impairment charges that the Company may incur. The fair values of acquired intangibles are determined using information available near the acquisition date based on estimates and assumptions that are deemed reasonable by the Company. Significant assumptions include the discount rates and certain assumptions that form the basis of the forecasted results of the acquired business including earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”), revenue, revenue growth rates, royalty rates and technology obsolescence rates. These assumptions are forward looking and could be affected by future economic and market conditions. The Company engages third-party valuation specialists who review the Company’s critical assumptions and calculations of the fair value of acquired intangible assets in connection with significant acquisitions. Refer to Notes 1, 2 and 10 to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements for a description of the Company’s policies relating to goodwill, acquired intangibles and acquisitions.

Table of Contents

In performing its goodwill impairment testing, the Company estimates the fair value of its reporting units primarily using a market-based approach as well as an income approach in certain instances to corroborate value. The market-based approach relies on current trading multiples of forecasted EBITDA for companies operating in businesses similar to each of the Company’s reporting units to calculate an estimated fair value of each reporting unit, in addition to recent available market sale transactions of comparable businesses. In evaluating the estimates derived by the market-based approach, management makes judgments about the relevance and reliability of the multiples by considering factors unique to its reporting units, including operating results, business plans, economic projections, anticipated future cash flows, and transactions and marketplace data as well as judgments about the comparability of the market proxies selected. The income approach relies on the discounted cash flow model, including assumptions about the amount and timing of future expected cash flows, terminal value growth rates and discount rates. The amount and timing of future cash flows is based on operational budgets, long range strategic plans and other estimates. The terminal value growth rate reflects management’s judgment of stable, perpetual growth of the applicable reporting unit. Estimates of market-participant risk-adjusted weighted average cost of capital is used as a basis for determining the discount rates to apply to the reporting unit’s future expected cash flows. There are inherent uncertainties related to these assumptions and management’s judgment in applying them to the analysis of goodwill impairment.

The Company reviews identified intangible assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the related carrying amounts may not be recoverable. Determining whether an impairment loss occurred for finite-lived intangibles requires a comparison of the carrying amount of the group to the sum of undiscounted cash flows expected to be generated by the asset group. These analyses require management to make judgments and estimates about future revenues, expenses, market conditions and discount rates related to these assets. Indefinite-lived intangibles are subject to impairment testing at least annually or more frequently if events or changes in circumstances indicate that potential impairment exists. Determining whether an impairment loss occurred for indefinite-lived intangible assets involves calculating the fair value of the indefinite-lived intangible assets and comparing the fair value to their carrying value. In addition, the Company reviews the useful lives for intangible assets and whether events or changes in circumstances indicate that an indefinite life may no longer be appropriate. If the fair value is less than the carrying value, the difference is recorded as an impairment loss.

The Company estimates the fair value of acquired trade names through the use of a relief from royalty method, which values an indefinite-lived intangible asset by estimating the royalties saved through the ownership of an asset. Under this method, an owner of an indefinite-lived intangible asset determines the arm’s length royalty that likely would have been charged if the owner had to license the asset from a third party. The royalty rate, which is based on the estimated rate applied against forecasted sales, is tax-effected and discounted to present value using a discount rate commensurate with the relative risk of achieving the cash flow attributable to the asset. Management judgment is necessary to determine key assumptions, including revenue growth rates, terminal revenue growth rates, royalty rates and discount rates. As further described in Note 10 to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements, in connection with the decision to reorganize and integrate certain genomics consumables businesses in the Life Sciences operating segment, the Company recorded a noncash impairment charge of $432 million pretax ($328 million after-tax) for the year ended December 31, 2025 related to a trade name which is included in SG&A expenses in the Consolidated Statement of Earnings. Following these impacts, if the fair values of the trade name declined by 10%, the Company estimates it would record additional impairment charges of $8 million.

Goodwill is evaluated for impairment on a reporting unit basis. Reporting units resulting from recent acquisitions generally present the highest risk of impairment. Management believes the impairment risk associated with these reporting units generally decreases as these businesses are integrated into the Company and better positioned for potential future earnings growth. The Company’s reorganization and integration of certain businesses in the Life Sciences operating segment at the beginning of the third quarter of 2025, as described above, changed two of its five goodwill reporting units and triggered a goodwill impairment analysis. The Company performed goodwill impairment analyses prior to, and after, the change in reporting units and in both instances, the fair values of the Company’s reporting units exceeded their carrying values and consequently did not result in an impairment charge. In the test of the prior reporting units, the excess of the estimated fair value over carrying value (expressed as a percentage of carrying value for the respective reporting unit) for each of the previous reporting units as of the beginning of the third quarter of 2025 testing date ranged from approximately 30% to approximately 365%. The excess of the estimated fair value over carrying value for each of the Company’s current reporting units (after the change of reporting units) as of the beginning of the third quarter testing date ranged from approximately 40% to approximately 365%.

As of December 31, 2025, the Company had five reporting units for goodwill impairment testing. The Company’s annual goodwill impairment analysis as of the first day of the Company’s fourth quarter of 2025 indicated that in all instances, the fair values of the Company’s reporting units exceeded their carrying values and consequently did not result in an impairment charge. The excess of the estimated fair value over carrying value (expressed as a percentage of carrying value for the respective reporting unit) for each of the Company’s reporting units as of the annual testing date ranged from approximately 20% to approximately 390%. To evaluate the sensitivity of the fair value calculations used in the goodwill impairment test, the Company applied a hypothetical 10% decrease to the fair values of each reporting unit and compared

Table of Contents

those hypothetical values to the reporting unit carrying values. Based on this hypothetical 10% decrease, the excess of the estimated fair value over carrying value (expressed as a percentage of carrying value for the respective reporting unit) for each of the Company’s reporting units ranged from approximately 10% to approximately 340%. The reporting unit with an excess of the estimated fair value over carrying value of 20% (and 10% under the sensitivity test) had a carrying value of approximately $10.1 billion. The decrease in the excess of the estimated fair value over carrying value from the Company’s third quarter of 2025 goodwill impairment test to the annual 2025 tests for this reporting unit reflects the current business performance outlook and trading multiples for companies operating in businesses similar to the Company’s reporting unit.

While the Company believes that the estimates and judgments used in performing the impairment tests are reasonable, if actual results are not consistent with management’s estimates and assumptions or if future trading multiples for companies operating in businesses similar to the Company’s reporting units decline, goodwill and other intangible assets may be overstated and a charge would need to be taken against net earnings which would adversely affect the Company’s financial statements.

Contingent Liabilities —As discussed in “Item 3. Legal Proceedings” and Note 17 to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements, the Company is, from time to time, subject to a variety of litigation and similar contingent liabilities incidental to its business (or the business operations of previously owned entities). The Company recognizes a liability for any legal contingency or contract settlement expense that is known or probable of occurrence and reasonably estimable. These assessments require judgments concerning matters such as litigation developments and outcomes, the anticipated outcome of negotiations, the number of future claims and the cost of both pending and future claims. In addition, because most contingencies are resolved over long periods of time, liabilities may change in the future due to various factors, including those discussed in Note 17 to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements. If the reserves established by the Company with respect to these contingent liabilities are inadequate, the Company would be required to incur an expense equal to the amount of the loss incurred in excess of the reserves, which would adversely affect the Company’s financial statements.

Income Taxes —For a description of the Company’s income tax accounting policies, refer to Notes 1 and 7 to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements. The Company establishes valuation allowances for its deferred tax assets if it is more likely than not that some or all of the deferred tax asset will not be realized. This requires management to make judgments and estimates regarding: (1) the timing and amount of the reversal of taxable temporary differences, (2) expected future taxable income and (3) the impact of tax planning strategies. Future changes to tax rates would also impact the amounts of deferred tax assets and liabilities and could have an adverse impact on the Company’s financial statements.

The Company provides for unrecognized tax benefits when, based upon the technical merits, it is “more likely than not” that an uncertain tax position will not be sustained upon examination. Judgment is required in evaluating tax positions and determining income tax provisions. The Company re-evaluates the technical merits of its tax positions and may recognize an uncertain tax benefit in certain circumstances, including when: (1) a tax audit is completed; (2) applicable tax laws change, including a tax case ruling or legislative guidance; or (3) the applicable statute of limitations expires.

In addition, certain of the Company’s tax returns are currently under review by tax authorities including in Denmark and the United States (refer to “—Results of Operations—Income Taxes” and Note 7 to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements). Management believes the positions taken in these returns are in accordance with the relevant tax laws and does not expect the resolution of these matters to have a future material adverse impact to the Company’s financial statements, including its cash flows and effective tax rate. However, the outcome of these audits is uncertain.

An increase of 1.0% in the Company’s 2025 nominal tax rate would have resulted in an additional income tax provision for continuing operations for the year ended December 31, 2025 of $42 million.

Valuation of Investments in Equity Securities —For a description of the Company’s investments in equity securities and partnerships refer to Notes 1, 8 and 11 to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements. The Company invests in publicly-traded securities, non-marketable securities of early-stage companies and equity method investments, including partnerships that invest primarily in early-stage companies.

Investments in early-stage companies have significant risks, including uncertainty regarding the investee company’s ability to successfully develop new technologies and services, bring these new technologies and services to market and gain market acceptance, maintain adequate capitalization and access to cash or other forms of liquidity, and retain critical management personnel. Refer to “Item 1A. Risk Factors” for a further discussion of the risks related to investing in early-stage companies.

The Company’s investments in publicly traded securities are measured at fair value based on quotes in active markets. For investments in non-marketable equity securities where the Company does not have influence over the investee, the Company has elected the measurement alternative and records these investments at cost and adjusts the carrying value

Table of Contents

for impairments and observable price changes with a same or similar security from the same issuer adjusted to reflect the specific rights and preferences of the securities, if applicable. Valuations of non-marketable equity securities are complex and require judgment due to the absence of market prices, lack of liquidity and the risks inherent in early-stage companies. The uncertainty in the process of valuing securities for which a ready market does not exist may cause our estimated values of these securities to differ significantly from the values that would have been derived had a ready market for the securities existed, and those differences could be material.

The Company accounts for its investments in the partnerships using the equity method. Accordingly, the investments are initially recorded at cost and adjusted each period for the Company’s share of the partnership’s income or loss and distributions received. The partnerships’ investments are recorded by the partnerships on an estimated fair value basis and pose the same risks and require the same valuation judgments discussed above. As a result, changes in the value of investments in the partnership will have a direct impact on the Company’s earnings. Impairment losses for the partnerships are recognized to reduce the investment’s carrying value to its fair value if there is a decline in fair value below carrying value that is considered to be other-than-temporary. To determine whether there is an other-than-temporary impairment, the Company uses qualitative and quantitative valuation methods.

Realized and unrealized gains and losses for these investments in equity securities and partnerships are recorded in other income (expense), net, in the Consolidated Statements of Earnings. A 10% decrease in the carrying value of the Company’s investments in equity securities and partnerships as of December 31, 2025 would result in a loss of approximately $153 million.

NEW ACCOUNTING STANDARDS

For a discussion of the new accounting standards impacting the Company, refer to Note 1 to the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements.