Type: Public
On the web: http://www.walgreens.com
Employees: 247,000
Employee growth: (20.6%)

Walgreen offers a time-honored fiscal fitness tonic: quality over quantity and homespun growth rather than growth through acquisitions. The firm operates more than 7,800 drugstores in all 50 US states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico, as well as two mail-order facilities. Prescription drugs account for about two-thirds of sales; the rest comes from general merchandise, over-the-counter medications, cosmetics, and groceries. Walgreen usually builds rather than buys stores so it can pick prime locations. Most stores offer drive-through pharmacies; almost all offer one-hour photo processing. In a strategy switch, Walgreen recently bought e-tailer drugstore.com in 2011 and Duane Reade in 2010.

Key numbers for fiscal year ending August, 2011:
Sales: $72,184.0M
One year growth: 7.1%
Net income: $2,714.0M
Income growth: 29.8%

Officers:
Chairman: Alan G. McNally
President, CEO, and Director: Gregory D. (Greg) Wasson
SVP and CIO: Timothy J. (Tim) Theriault

Competitors:
CVS Caremark
Rite Aid
Wal-Mart

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