Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) chief executive Alex Gorsky is bullish on the newly passed US tax reform, according to a new interview with CNBC.
Gorsky said that with the passing of the new tax reform bill last month, New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson plans to repatriate $16 billion in overseas cash, according to the interview.
“We’re very pleased to see that the tax reform went through. I think the fact that we now actually have a competitive tax rate, that we’ve got a construct in place to repatriate earnings and cash from overseas is going to give us much more flexibility and make us more competitive,” Gorsky told CNBC in an interview.
The reform won’t have a significant impact on M&A activity at J&J, Gorsky said, but added that he believes it will make M&A activity more competitive overall.
When asked about Amazon’s possible entry into the pharmaceutical supply chain business, Gorsky said that he didn’t see the entry as a negative for the company, but said that all players in medtech and pharma should behave like their business is at risk from Amazon.
“We should all be acting like Amazon is getting into our business, because frankly we’ve got to create a crisis, we’ve got to make sure we’re always competitive, that we’re always thinking about how can we be more effective, how can we be more efficient. So, we’re thinking that way across all of our businesses,” Gorsky told CNBC.
Last month, Johnson & Johnson subsidiary DePuy Synthes said it launched the Purevue visualization system imaging platform designed for minimally invasive endoscopic surgery.