CVS Health Corp. is discussing plans to spin off its retail pharmacy business, according to the Financial Times. The report describes a shocking retreat for the country’s largest drugstore chain. The company could announce the plan as soon as Wednesday alongside its quarterly earnings results. The Financial Times cited unnamed people familiar with the matter. It said the structure and timeline could still change before any announcement. CVS representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the report. What the Reported Plan Would Do Under the plans, CVS would keep its Aetna insurance unit alongside its Caremark pharmacy benefits division. The retail pharmacy division would become a separate listed company. That structure would split the drugstore chain from the insurance and benefits operations that the company has grouped together for years. The move would mark the end of an era for a business that started as a single store in Lowell, Massachusetts. That store grew into a healthcare powerhouse with a market value of $117 billion. It also became one of the largest companies by revenue in the US. The retail footprint remains enormous even after years of retrenchment. CVS has closed hundreds of stores in recent years, yet it still operates almost 9,000 retail pharmacies. Rivals such as Walgreens and Rite Aid struggled to compete over the same period. How Investors Reacted Investors responded quickly to the report. CVS shares rose as much as 3.7% in after-hours trading Tuesday, then pared those gains. The stock had already climbed 15% this year through Tuesday’s close. The after-hours jump suggests some investors view a separation as a potential source of value. The pullback from the peak shows that traders remain cautious while the plan stays unconfirmed. Neither the structure nor the timing is final, and the company has not commented publicly. The size of the retail business explains why the discussions carry such weight. The company’s pharmacy and consumer wellness segment accounted for $139 billion in revenue last year. That figure represents about a third of the company’s total. Any spin-off would therefore remove a large share of the revenue that CVS reports today. A Breakup Years in the Making The idea of a breakup did not emerge overnight. Bloomberg reported in 2024 that CVS was reviewing strategic options, including a breakup. Chief Executive Officer David Joyner took over two years ago and has tried to turn around the business since then. His task became harder after the Aetna segment faltered badly in recent years. Structural pressure on the drugstore model adds to the case for change. Retail drugstores face long-term challenges from online retailers. CVS is also the only one of its major healthcare competitors to have a large pharmacy chain footprint. That position sets the company apart, and it also ties the insurance and benefits operations to a store network that faces mounting competition. What to Watch Next Investors will look to the company’s earnings release for confirmation. If CVS announces the plan, the details will matter as much as the headline. The final structure, the timeline, and the way the company divides its operations could all differ from what the Financial Times described. For now, the report points to a major strategic shift at one of the country’s best-known healthcare companies. A listed retail pharmacy company would stand on its own, while Aetna and Caremark would continue together. Whether the split satisfies investors will depend on what CVS says, and on how the market weighs the future of the drugstore chain that built the company. Post navigation Anthropic Files for Blockbuster IPO as Losses Mount and Valuation Talk Hits $2 Trillion