19. Alcon
Revenue: $7,508,000,000*
Geneva, Switzerland
2019 rank: 19
R&D spend: $656,000,000
Employees: 20,000
*Fiscal year ended 12/31/2019
Eyecare products giant Alcon experienced a broad slowdown from the COVID-19 pandemic during the second quarter of 2020, with substantial recovery in the third quarter. Worldwide sales were down –12% year-over-year, to $4.8 billion, for the first nine months of 2020, but they were only down –1% during Q3. “The investments we have made in our people, culture and infrastructure have gone a long way in building significant organizational resilience. Our innovation is meeting customer and patient needs as evidenced by strong market share gains,” CEO David Endicott said in a Nov. 10 news release. –CN
Key personnel: David Endicott, CEO; Laurent Attias, SVP, head global corporate development strategy, BD&L and M&A; Heather Attra, SVP, head global quality; Jeannette Bankes, president & GM, global surgical franchise; Royce Bedward, SVP, general counsel & corporate secretary; Ian Bell, president, international; Sergio Duplan, region president, North America; Karen King, SVP, head global investor relations & communications; Franck Leveiller, SVP, head global, R&D; Sue-Jean Lin, SVP, CIO; Kim Martin, SVP, chief human resources officer; Ed McGough, SVP, head global manufacturing & technical operations; Rajkumar Narayanan, SVP, operations strategy & chief transformational officer; Michael Onuscheck, president, global business & innovation; Andy Pawson, president & GM, global vision care franchise; Tim Stonesifer, SVP & CFO