CVS to split off drugstore business in major breakup of healthcare giant

CVS Health plans to split into two separate public companies by early 2028, in what would be one of the largest corporate splits in history, the company announced Wednesday. The move would reverse the company's massive $78 billion acquisition of its insurer, Aetna, and dismantle the vertically integrated healthcare conglomerate it created in 2018. The plan would specifically separate CVS's roughly 9,000 retail pharmacies from its major insurance business and pharmacy benefit manager, Caremark, one of the nation's three largest PBMs. It's a stunning reversal for the healthcare powerhouse, which has spent the last two decades working to turn itself into a one-stop health destination.