The new company would assume 3M's business in wound and oral care, health informatics, and biopharmaceutical filtration.

[3] CEO Mike Roman said that the split would "position 3M for the future, to create more opportunity and greater certainty".

[4] Bloomberg News said that the move followed a period of declining profits attributed to shifting economic trends, and would "dramatically reshape a company known for diverse product lines, from electronic components to dental adhesives to Post-it notes".

[6] Many observers placed this business decision in a larger trend of other industrial conglomerates that had undergone similar splits in the preceding few years.

[4] Comparisons were also made to the decisions by Kellogg's[4] and Toshiba to split into multiple entities,[6] as well as United Technologies's spin-off of Otis Worldwide and Carrier Global before its merger with Raytheon.