Medline Industries

Medline Industries is the largest provider of medical-surgical products and supply chain solutions in the United States. Founded in 1966 by brothers Jim and Jon Mills in Evanston, Illinois, the company started with a modest 12,000 square feet of warehouse space and one loading dock. Today it operates in over 100 countries, employs 45,000 people, and generated $28.4 billion in revenue in fiscal 2025. Medline manufactures and distributes more than 550,000 SKUs, ranging from exam gloves and surgical gowns to advanced wound care and infection prevention products.

The company's business model is a hybrid: it both manufactures its own branded products and distributes third-party goods, giving it a unique competitive edge. Medline's Prime Vendor relationships, where it becomes the exclusive primary supplier for a healthcare system's entire continuum of care, create deep integration and sticky partnerships. These relationships, combined with its scale and supply chain expertise, have made Medline an indispensable backbone of the healthcare supply chain.

In June 2021, a consortium of private equity firms, Blackstone, Carlyle, and Hellman & Friedman, acquired Medline in a landmark leveraged buyout valued at $34 billion. The company subsequently went public on the Nasdaq in 2025 under the ticker MDLN and made its first appearance on the Fortune 500 list in 2026. Despite its massive scale, Medline remains guided by the Mills family, with Charlie Mills serving as chair and Jim Boyle as CEO. [edit]