--- description: A medical-device maker merger that looks like a clever tax move title: Medtronic and Covidien in Advanced $40 Billion Talks to Merge image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Two Companies You've Never Heard Of Plan Merger Worth More Than Latvia by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 14, 2014 7:00 PM CUT by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 14, 2014 7:00 PM CUT Two medical-device makers [you’ve probably never heard of](http://online.wsj.com/articles/medtronic-covidien-in-advanced-talks-to-combine-1402760148 "undefined") are in talks to merge for a price that rivals the size of small economies like Latvia, Jordan and Luxembourg. The two companies, Medtronic and Covidien—who might as well be Transformers for all most people know—are poised to announce a $40 billion deal on Monday, unnamed sources told the Wall Street _Journal_. Medtronic makes cardiovascular and orthopedic devices and is based in Minneapolis, while Covidien, which is based in Ireland, makes staplers, feeding pumps and other devices used in surgery. The deal would lower Medtronic’s tax rate in the United States by coupling it with the lower-taxed Irish company. The U.S. corporate tax rate is 35%, and Ireland’s is 12.5%. Huge medical company deals are apparently the mergers _de nos jours_, with Pfizer most recently launching an abortive takeover bid of the U.K.’s AstraZeneca, a roughly $120 billion deal. According to the International Monetary Fund figures, Latvia’s total gross domestic product in 2013 was $38.9 billion, while Jordan’s was $40 billion and Luxembourg was $42 billion. \[[_WSJ_](http://online.wsj.com/articles/medtronic-covidien-in-advanced-talks-to-combine-1402760148 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2876285/medtronic-covidien-merger-40-billion/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2876285/medtronic-covidien-merger-40-billion/"},"headline":"Two Companies You've Never Heard Of Plan Merger Worth More Than Latvia","datePublished":"2014-06-14T19:00:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:25:19.422Z","description":"Medtronic and Covidien plotting the latest healthcare mega-merger, in a deal reportedly worth $40 billion","url":"https://time.com/2876285/medtronic-covidien-merger-40-billion/","keywords":["Companies"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2876285/medtronic-covidien-merger-40-billion/","name":"Two Companies You've Never Heard Of Plan Merger Worth More Than Latvia"}}]}] ```