We covered International Paper’s sale-versus-spinoff decision and Johnson & Johnson’s mid-2027 DePuy Synthes timetable in separate articles. Here are twelve other developments worth following.
KFC breaks with Pepsi, 29 years after the separation
KFC is switching its U.S. restaurants to Coca-Cola, ending a beverage relationship that survived PepsiCo’s 1997 spinoff of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell into Tricon Global Restaurants, now Yum! Brands ($YUM). The rollout is planned for 2027, while PepsiCo keeps other restaurant supply agreements, including international KFC business. Pepsi’s original shareholder separation took place 29 years ago; the commercial connection lasted considerably longer. It’s a reminder that spinning off a business need not immediately end the contracts between parent and offspring.
Kenvue moves closer to another corporate home
The European Commission conditionally cleared Kimberly-Clark’s proposed acquisition of Kenvue ($KVUE), subject to divestitures of certain feminine-care brands. Kenvue emerged from Johnson & Johnson in 2023, and its independent life has included management upheaval, activist pressure and a depressed share price; we covered those problems last year. European clearance is a significant milestone, though other closing conditions still matter. Independence has turned out to be a relatively brief chapter for the consumer-health company.
GE Vernova wins a place in the off-grid power buildout
Venture Global signed framework agreements with GE Vernova ($GEV) and Baker Hughes covering equipment for as many as 16 power-generation units serving LNG facilities and potentially data centers. The framework reserves a path to equipment orders; it should not be treated as sixteen firm, fully funded turbine sales today. GE Vernova has already produced striking shareholder returns since leaving General Electric in 2024, as we previously noted. Its latest opportunity is tied as much to grid constraints and AI infrastructure as to traditional utility orders.
Solventum considers another corporate subtraction
Solventum ($SOLV), itself separated from 3M in 2024, is reportedly collecting initial bids for its Health Information Systems unit. Axios reports a possible $5.5 billion to $7 billion valuation for the medical coding and billing software business, but there is no announced definitive transaction. We covered the original 3M separation before Solventum traded independently. This next review is a potential asset sale rather than an announced spinoff; its outcome will test how much of Solventum’s inherited business mix management wants to retain.
Qnity gets the semiconductor-materials spotlight
Barron’s makes the bullish case for Qnity Electronics ($Q), the semiconductor-materials business DuPont separated in November 2025. Increasingly complex chips require specialized polishing, thermal and interconnect materials, giving Qnity a different exposure to AI spending than the companies designing processors. We examined its first strong standalone earnings in February. The investment question has shifted from forced selling after distribution to the durability of chipmaking demand and the valuation investors will pay for it.
Bausch + Lomb changes chief executives while still controlled
Bausch + Lomb ($BLCO) abruptly parted ways with CEO Brent Saunders, naming chairman Thomas Appio as interim chief. Appio also leads Bausch Health ($BHC), which still owns roughly 87% of Bausch + Lomb following its 2022 public listing. That makes this a useful example of a partial separation: public shareholders have a separately traded stock, while the former parent retains decisive influence over governance and strategic alternatives. The departure also arrives after a previously explored sale failed to produce a deal.
Lumentum faces a very high bar for AI optimism
Optical-equipment stocks sold off early in the week, with Lumentum ($LITE) falling sharply alongside Ciena and Coherent amid anxiety about AI-infrastructure valuations. That’s an interesting development for a company with roots in the 2015 JDS Uniphase breakup; our older shareholder guide traces Lumentum and Viavi back to JDSU. Optical demand may remain strong, but customers’ capital budgets and investors’ willingness to pay premium multiples are different variables. A focused post-spinoff business can still move with an entire crowded trade.
Constellation turns its nuclear fleet into a Google contract
Constellation Energy ($CEG), separated from Exelon in 2022, signed agreements with Google totaling about 3.6 gigawatts of power supply and additional nuclear generation. The package includes an approximately 890-megawatt nuclear-uprate component and a separate 2,700-megawatt supply agreement; the two pieces have different economics and time horizons. Constellation’s standalone generation portfolio can now contract directly with large technology customers seeking long-term energy security. The significant capital commitments and eventual delivery dates deserve as much scrutiny as the headline gigawatts.
GE HealthCare makes a $945 million diagnostic bet
GE HealthCare ($GEHC), independent since GE’s 2023 separation, agreed to acquire SOFIE Biosciences for $945 million in cash. SOFIE’s manufacturing and distribution network supplies radioactive tracers used in PET imaging, a business where geographic proximity and rapid delivery are central to the product. The deal also brings U.S. rights to an experimental cancer-imaging agent. It’s a different post-spinoff strategy from selling assets: GE HealthCare is acquiring additional infrastructure to deepen its diagnostics business, with integration and development risks still to be priced.
Western Digital feels the other side of a pure-play
Western Digital ($WDC) has been pressured by reports that Toshiba could expand hard-drive production; Barron’s says WDC shares have fallen sharply during October, even as Wells Fargo questions how quickly that rival capacity could gain market share. Western Digital separated its flash-memory business as SanDisk ($SNDK) in February 2025, leaving a much purer hard-drive investment. That sharper focus is a selling point in favorable markets and a concentration risk when investors worry about competing supply. The capacity assumptions, rather than the stock’s one-month move, are what merit follow-up.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s independent life comes to an end
The 2022 combination of AT&T’s WarnerMedia spinoff with Discovery has effectively reached its endpoint: Paramount completed its takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery on October 6. Former WBD shareholders received approximately $31.0167 per share in cash, and WBD ceased trading as a separate public company. Last year we wrote about the proposed cable-network separation that the competing transaction threatened. The result is a particularly tangled corporate history: a combination formed through a spinoff, followed by a planned breakup, ultimately ending in a full takeover.
MiniMed: the odd-lot provision worked; the trade is another question
Medtronic ($MDT) confirmed final MiniMed ($MMED) exchange results: ordinary tenders were subject to an 18.289133% proration factor, while qualifying holders of fewer than 100 MDT shares who tendered their entire holdings were accepted in full. Our earlier report tracked the preliminary proration; the final result resolves the allocation question. It does not settle the investment return, because MiniMed’s share price changed materially around the separation. A completed split-off is still worth following through settlement and the first independent trading weeks.