Discontinued Operations And Dental Separation

9 Months Ended

Sep. 28, 2018

Discontinued Operations and Disposal Groups [Abstract]

Discontinued Operations

DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS AND DENTAL SEPARATION

Discontinued Operations

On July 2, 2016 (the “Distribution Date”), the Company completed the separation (the “Fortive Separation”) of Fortive Corporation (“Fortive”). For additional details on the Fortive Separation reference is made to the financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2017 and Note 3 thereto included in the Company’s 2017 Annual Report. The accounting requirements for reporting the Fortive Separation as a discontinued operation were met when the Fortive Separation was completed. Accordingly, the accompanying Consolidated Condensed Financial Statements for all periods presented reflect this business as a discontinued operation.

In the nine-month period ended September 29, 2017, the Company recorded a $22 million income tax benefit related to the release of previously provided reserves associated with uncertain tax positions on certain Danaher tax returns which were jointly filed with Fortive entities. These reserves were released due to the expiration of statutes of limitations for those returns. This income tax benefit was included in earnings from discontinued operations in the accompanying Consolidated Condensed Statement of Earnings.

Dental Separation

In July 2018, the Company announced its intention to spin-off its Dental business into an independent publicly traded company (the “Dental Separation”). The Dental business had sales for the year-ended December 31, 2017 of $2.8 billion. The transaction is expected to be tax-free to the Company’s shareholders. The Company is targeting to complete the Dental Separation in the second half of 2019, subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, including obtaining final approval from the Danaher Board of Directors, satisfactory completion of financing, receipt of tax opinions, receipt of favorable rulings from the IRS and receipt of other regulatory approvals.