Kimberly-Clark (Nasdaq: KMB), the maker of Huggies and Kleenex, said yesterday that it has completed its acquisition of Kenvue (NYSE: KVUE), the Tylenol maker. KMB shares ended the session little changed.
KMB closed yesterday at $108.25, up 0.29% from $107.94 on Friday, after a session range of $107.56 to $111.38. That is still about 9.6% below its $119.71 close on the 31st of October 2025, the last session before the deal was announced (desk calculation from closing prices).
Kenvue is the former Johnson & Johnson consumer-health arm, which also owns Listerine, Neutrogena and Johnson’s Baby. Its shares stopped trading from the market open yesterday. “Today marks a defining moment in Kimberly-Clark’s 154-year history as we welcome Kenvue and hit the ground running as one company,” said Mike Hsu, Kimberly-Clark’s chairman and chief executive officer.
Kenvue shareholders receive $3.50 in cash plus 0.14625 KMB shares for each Kenvue share. At KMB’s close yesterday that is worth about $19.33, against a last Kenvue close of $19.31 on Friday (desk calculation from closing prices).
The bigger price move came on announcement day. KMB closed at $102.27 on the 3rd of November 2025, about 14.6% lower than the session before (desk calculation from closing prices).
The cost falls on Kimberly-Clark’s balance sheet. It closed $4.9bn of senior unsecured notes on Thursday the 29th of October to help fund the cash payment and fees, and offered to swap up to $7bn of its own notes for Kenvue’s.
Chief financial officer Nelson Urdaneta said in the 29th of October notes announcement that “synergy-driven earnings growth, strong free cash flow and scheduled debt maturities will enable de-leveraging on an accelerated basis to levels consistent with our current credit ratings.” The completion release gave no leverage ratio or new guidance, and its risk factors cite substantially increased indebtedness.
Kimberly-Clark reiterated about $2.1bn of run-rate synergies. That is about $1.9bn of cost savings within three years, plus about $500m of extra profit from revenue synergies within four years, less about $300m of reinvestment.
S&P Dow Jones Indices said Okta replaces Kenvue in the S&P 500 before the open tomorrow. Kimberly-Clark is expected to report third-quarter results on Thursday.