From Strategic Clarity: From Conglomerate to “100-Year-Old Startup” | Carrier CEO, Dave Gitlin · · The Factory Doctor
“We spun, we had $11 billion of debt, we had a billion dollars of cash, and our first quarter as a public company, our sales were down 25%. And what happened was frankly quite quite magical because our board, which was a new board cuz we were a new public company, and our management team, and all 50,000 people within Carrier, we all galvanized around our customers and each other and we ended up really I think creating something very dynamic and special.”
On , David Gitlin, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Carrier Global Corp, spoke about company spin-off during Strategic Clarity: From Conglomerate to “100-Year-Old Startup” | Carrier CEO, Dave Gitlin on The Factory Doctor.
David Gitlin, chairman and chief executive officer of Carrier Global, has described the company's 2020 spin-off from United Technologies as a transition from a conglomerate to a "100-year-old startup," stating that the separation allowed the business to "flourish and grow." In earnings calls and interviews, Gitlin has highlighted strong demand in the data center cooling market, reporting that global data center orders were up over 500% in the first quarter of 2026 and that the company's backlog fully covers its expected $1.5 billion in data center sales for the year. He has also discussed the company's expansion in India, including a $100 million investment in a new manufacturing facility in Andhra Pradesh, and stated a target of $1 billion in India revenue by 2030. Gitlin has addressed the impact of tariffs and input cost increases, noting that the company expects to offset these headwinds through supply chain actions, cost reductions, and additional pricing. He described a new 232 tariff as a topic of "constructive discussions" with the administration and expressed optimism that something could change. On the residential side, Gitlin acknowledged softness in North American markets and said the company reduced its workforce by 3,000 positions in the second half of 2025. He has also stated that Carrier's market capitalization grew from $12 billion to $60 billion under his leadership and described the company's mission as becoming "the global leader in intelligent climate and energy solutions."