Investor Relations Annual Meeting 2020 Questions & Answers

Thank you for the question. These products are related to our COVID-19 PCR testing, the molecular testing that society has been using to respond to the virus so that a doctor can know whether a patient or person has the virus actively, and we received FDA Emergency Use Authorization for that test in mid-March. We also received authorizations in almost 50 other countries around the world. We have helped society respond in a meaningful fashion to the pandemic, and that’s been something that all of our colleagues around the Company are very proud of.

I’d like to thank the Carpenters Union for their longstanding shareholding in the Company, and often attending the meetings live. In terms of our capital deployment strategy as you may recall, we have a blend of return of capital to our shareholders, which is both through repurchases and dividends, as well as M&A, to continue to further advance the company’s strategy. Roughly two-thirds of our capital is deployed towards M&A and roughly a third of our capital is deployed towards return of capital. Early in the year, as you mentioned, we purchased $1.5 billion worth of shares. Subsequent to that, in early March we announced the acquisition of Qiagen as I mentioned in the update. We are very excited about that, and certainly for the balance of this year, our capital deployment focus will be on working through the process to complete that acquisition and close that acquisition in the first half of 2021. In the future we will certainly continue to look at the blend of repurchases, dividends, and further M&A. Thank you for the question.

Thank you for the question. We have had a long-standing business relationship with China that has grown significantly over the years. We entered the Chinese market about 40 years ago. Today, it is our second largest market, after the United States. It represents about 11% of our revenue, and it has been an area, because of how we have supported the Chinese societal priorities of environmental protection, a safer food supply, and expansion of healthcare within the Chinese society, in which we have had good relationships and a good experience in expanding our business. As a result, we have not had a forced transfer of intellectual property.