Danaher Corporation

Danaher, a global conglomerate that owns and operates a portfolio of operating companies, produced COVID-19 diagnostic tests and bioprocessing equipment used throughout the pandemic. By the start of 2022, Danaher’s bioprocessing business had become a $7.5 billion franchise.

The case alleges that Danaher misled investors about the sustainability of demand for its bioprocessing products as the pandemic subsided, leading to a share price drop when growth slowed. Danaher issued ambitious forecasts, projecting sustained growth in both 2022 and 2023, and assured that existing customer demand remained strong. Behind the scenes, the bioprocessing business was unravelling.

As alleged in the complaint that Pomerantz filed on behalf of aggrieved investors, there was indeed a sharp and sustained decline in new COVID-related programs as the market became saturated. In addition, large customers began stockpiling equipment for future use —effectively deterring future orders for programs unrelated to COVID—and small customers that relied on external funding to buy bioprocessing equipment found it harder to access capital as interest rates rose.

Pomerantz identified a confidential witness who sat in on an internal call immediately after a public call with investors in April 2022, during which the CEO admitted that he “made up” new projections on the public call to appease investors because he didn’t like the ones he had received from Danaher’s senior leaders.

Throughout the relevant period, Danaher made piecemeal revisions to its forecast due to operating conditions that existed—and were known—many months earlier. As a result, the company’s stock price declined continuously for nearly two years.

On August 4, 2025, the Court largely denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss the investors’ claims. In addition, the Court took the rare step of sustaining the claims concerning forecasts made on the investor call in April 2022 based, in large part, on the testimony from the confidential witness who overheard the CEO’s admission immediately after that call.

Following the Court’s decision to sustain nearly all the claims in the case, the parties engaged in extensive and hard-fought discovery, during which Pomerantz also worked towards an early, mediated resolution. After a single day of negotiations, the parties agreed to a historic $172.5 million settlement. The settlement is a highly favorable result for the class and avoids the costs and uncertainty of continued litigation.

Pomerantz’s Danaher Team is led by Partners Justin D. D’Aloia and Jeremy A. Lieberman.