I’m a long investor and keep hearing that Geoff Martha is making bad decisions and harming the company. It’s difficult to assess from the outside… what are the things he is doing (beyond layoffs) that are causing problems?
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@ah "unified" approaches are part of the problem, at least with respect to technology development, product commercialization. The belief that energy poured into unifying processes has any value at the development and commercialization level is misguided and rooted in thinking innovation is a process like mfg or supply chain. It is not. Couple that with only investing in things that can provide 4 year payback and you are doomed to very a incremental product development / practically sustaining only efforts. You can't claim your a med tech innovation company if this is how you operate. We are just milking the successes of the past. Products held up as innovation successes (CAS PFA, SubQ ICD, Micra, RDN, Linq) were in research and development for 15+ years before approval. That's what it takes to innovate and you can't thrive in med tech if you don't innovate no matter how big you are. R&D at 7% of rev doesn't cut it.
OP is from Elliott btw
As someone who works at Medtronic, this guy is hated by all of management. I have heard VP say, I hope we can survive this. This guy took 4 working operations and turned it into 23 divisions. My team went from one manager to six, all report through different chains. I am surprised the company even exits. The only time me or any team member has seen Geoff was at a Timberwolves game, so appropriate. Sell your stock, . Earl is rolling in his grave.
@ps At the start of FY25 my role completely changed. I was given assignments that were new to me with no guidance. When I would ask questions I was either ignored or told that I needed to work it out on my own. That told me everything I needed to know about my fate and the new culture they were building.
I used to really enjoy my job until FY25. The stress was so bad that I ended up sick towards the end. Got laid off in May and got sicker. I’m finally turning a corner and got a new job. I feel for anyone that is still working there, it’s a nightmare.
While MDT's dividend yield is up (i.e. rosy picture to investors) - it has come through gutting everything else - e.g. layoffs, reducing R&D spend with all other factors remaining constant (e.g. middling sales growth, not much tangible improvements to operations). So it'll only be a matter of time before other competitors push MDT further down the ranks.
@1gx link with post and replies are exactly my experience.
MDT is a large company and has a bit of patent moat but the company is circling the drain. It is possible with the right leadership the circling could be slowed or stopped but to this point it is only going faster.
When asked about applying or joining, the first question I ask is what are your other options.
@OP check this out
https://cafepharma.com/boards/threads/if-you-are-thinking-about-joining-mdt-please-read-first.688366/#gsc.tab=0
it was clear to a lot of us in leadership that Geoff was not the right pic. He's an intelllectual lightweight, uncurious and insecure. He very systemtically got rid of anyone in leadership (VP and up) who he felt wasnt sufficiently deferential or a "yes man.woman". for the most part, the leadership that remains have either given up their integrity to keep their jobs, or they never had it to begin with and they are cut from the same cloth as GM.
It's very simple..
They have thinned the herd of talented engineers in order to keep profits up and the stock level. They have entered a state where new products can't be built on time or with the same quality they have been built in the past.
They have also taken many of their current profitable devices and put them in service mode thus neglecting a known revenue stream causing a loss of confidence with their current customer base. The evidence of this is Vent and Diabetes.
Long term Medtronic will go the way of GE, from the giant in the room to forgotten.
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Based on this trajectory, looks like by 2027, Medtronic will be gone from top 10 Medical Device company.
This is the contribution of Geoffrey Martha.
The worst part of G.M. is destroying the culture while not delivering the financial results. Its not a "And" company its a "Neither" company
@OP Over the same time frame since 2021, just after Martha became CEO, Dow +27% and MDT -37%. That alone is more than reason for a change in leadership. What is the board waiting for?
@pp aren't we all pushed into a role that's no longer the same as what we signed up for? It's a shame that the company basically use bait and switch to hire and then trap people in their current role. My team is changed. My org is different . I have multiple new managers that I no longer care. I keep my head down and do what that want me to do
@pk I am a CTOR but agree with you. That being said, some of us were pushed into the role with no say in the matter.
@ad I correlate the beginning of the downturn in operations to when the CTOR role was implemented. I retired four years ago (after 29 years of service) and was a functional Sr. Director when I retired. The CTOR role was a sham from the very beginning of it's inception - a bunch of (highly paid) should tappers walking around reporting out on other peoples work (and usually getting the message wrong and creating more confusion). As a functional leader, I couldn't understand why my engineers were not allowed to represent their own work and needed someone with a fake job to report out on their behalf. Absolutely frustrating!!
@dw+1jy2s90ft Skipp got the role because of the o arm/robotics. They think robotics is the answer & trying to be everything to everyone. Competitors don’t think this way. Writing is on the wall. Can’t believe they are fumbling a decade run.
@ad+1jy2s90ft Agree 100% esp legacy Covidien. The worst - leaders only out for self. I cringe on calls
- Hires inexperienced people to make himself look like he know something (he doesn’t)
- Is obsessed with quarter to quarter reporting with NO strategy or plan to actually create value
- Reckless reorgs including his id--tic op model
- Terrible acquisitions but especially Covidien
- Cultivated a clueless board that lets him flounder so they can all enjoy their perks
- Sh--s on the Mission, Omar and anyone who doesn’t su-k up to him
- Is crude, irrational, petulant, overly emotional and a misogynist
- Holds grudges
- Is d-mb as a rock (no offense to rocks)
…you get the picture. He su-ks!
It was him or one of his buddies like Skipp
Long investor? You’re losing money. Buy under $80, sell at $90 is how you profit from Medtronic stock.
Dear Geoff- Too many mediocre managers and not enough real leaders. That’s the problem…need a major housecleaning of the top 3 layers of the org chart….starting with you.
@a6 I'm sure it was Geoff who started this string LOL.
Yep. Very well stated summary. Unfortunately.
Medtronic has become a patchwork of acquired businesses, each operating in silos with little to no alignment. There’s no unified approach to quality control, design control, or even basic operational standards and the internal politics are toxic to the point of almost not repairable. Our global team provides almost no guidance, and every year when inefficiencies are raised, we hear the same response: “We’re working on it.” But nothing ever changes, and any global initiative becomes a mis-managed money pit with no added value; the larger initiatives target cheap software solutions that will be ineffective if implemented. Rather than addressing these core structural issues, the company focuses on short-term cost savings through outsourcing—primarily to lower-cost countries—while bleeding experienced talent and overburdening the teams that remain. We’re expected to bring products to market faster, often at the implicit cost of cutting corners, yet the foundational systems to support that simply don’t exist. Many of us on the ground want to succeed and improve operations, but it's becoming impossible to be competitive. Frankly, it feels like the company doesn’t know how to run an integrated business—its only consistent strategy is slashing costs. From an investment perspective, that’s not a growth model; it’s a slow unraveling.
Make no mistake that this leadership will use Covid, economic down turns, tariffs, war as a reason for Medtronic’s struggle. This logic goes out the door when Stryker, Intuitive, Boston Scientific, Abbott endured all these events and are still growing rapidly. Gut this leadership and hire a real leader that cares about our customers.
Countless product recalls, safety standards compromised to save a buck, injury and death lawsuits, hiring countless uncessary staff (DEI, DRM, VAVE, STOP, PMOs, CTORs, VPs with no strategies), supply chain issues, back orders. I can go on and on. Medtronic leadership has no strategy and no gumption to lead/fix issues. They react to everything, and never proactive. We are surrounded by selfish leaders trying to move up as fast as they can leaving a wake of chaos and then jump ship before anyone calls out their BS. No one in their right mind should be investing in Medtronic and our customers no longer trust our products.
@OP
100% failures. BTW You real? Have you not looked at MDT stock performances in last 10 year? Dummy