Cencora, Inc. (COR)
Pharmaceutical distribution, 51,000 people, 41% U.S.-based. Read October 2, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending September 30, 2025, filed November 25, 2025. Ranked 17 of the 36 Healthcare companies read so far, by the share within reach now.
Within reach now
23%
End of 2028
36%
Employees, annual report
51,000
Leading staffing pattern
Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods
Share of the working time within reach, long-run pace, four times in five
- Now23%
- End of 202733%
- End of 202836%
- End of 203037%
What changes for its people by the end of 2028, by its industries' figures
- Stays with people 62%
- Becomes checking a model's work 24%
- Handed over with lighter checks 12%
The filing states the total, the full-time count and the U.S. share, nothing by segment, so the whole workforce takes the wholesale pattern by description (c).
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 23% now, 33% at the end of 2027, 36% at the end of 2028, 37% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 37% desk work, 19% people work and 44% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 62% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 24% becomes checking a model's work and 12% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
51,000 employees as of September 30, 2025 (stated). Approximately 41% of employees are U.S.-based.
The filing: “As of September 30, 2025, we had more than 51,000 employees globally, of which approximately 47,000 were full-time employees and approximately 41% were U.S.-based employees.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods | 100% | Pharmaceutical Distribution is 89% of revenue and International Healthcare Solutions 9%, the same distribution work abroad (rule 7), with Animal Health 2%; the filing states no count by segment, so one wholesale pattern by description (c). |
What the filing says about the workforce: More than 51,000 employees, about 47,000 of them full-time, about 41% U.S.-based; about 24% covered by collective bargaining agreements, nearly all outside the U.S.; distribution center team members trained on safety procedures.
Companies read with the same leading pattern
Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods, largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- McKesson Corporation (MCK, 43,000 employees)23% now, 36% by 2028
What the filing says about AI
15 sentences in the filing name AI. Fifteen sentences: the company says it is seeking to use AI to improve its business operations, and names AI laws among the privacy and cybersecurity regulations it is subject to.
- “("Boots"), including with respect to the pharmaceutical distribution agreement and/or the global generic purchasing services arrangement; risks that acquisitions of or investments in businesses, including the acquisition of Retina Consultants of America and the investment in OneOncology, fail to achieve expected or targeted future financial and operating performance and results; our ability to...”
- “Additionally, we continue to improve our entity-wide infrastructure environment to drive efficiency, capabilities, and speed to market, and we are seeking to use AI to improve our business operations, financial position, and results of operations.”
- “GDPR, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act of 2000 ("PIPEDA"), U.S. state, U.S. city, and Canadian provincial privacy, consumer protection, cybersecurity, AI, and breach notification laws, regulations, and directives, and equivalent foreign laws.”
- “There is also an emerging trend of governmental entities proposing and providing regulatory guidance related to AI, including generative AI.”
- “If we or our third-party providers are restricted from using AI as a result of any regulatory views, laws or other measures, it could impact our operations, increase our compliance expense and burden, and cause us to incur costs to replace or modify our use of AI. 7 Table of Contents Available Information The Company's Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports...”
Its annual reports, year by year
Sentences naming AI in each annual report, counted by one rule, beside the median report in the Index that year. Each count links its filing. Every company, by year and sector
- Fiscal 20210median 0
- Fiscal 20220median 0
- Fiscal 20231median 1
- Fiscal 20241median 4
- Fiscal 202515median 10
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-09-30 | 47,000 | 2025-11-25 | 10-K |
| 2024-09-30 | 42,000 | 2024-11-26 | 10-K |
| 2023-09-30 | 42,000 | 2023-11-21 | 10-K |
| 2022-09-30 | 39,000 | 2022-11-22 | 10-K |
| 2021-09-30 | 38,000 | 2021-11-23 | 10-K |
| 2020-09-30 | 21,000 | 2020-11-19 | 10-K |
| 2019-09-30 | 21,000 | 2019-11-19 | 10-K |
| 2018-09-30 | 20,000 | 2018-11-20 | 10-K |
| 2017-09-30 | 19,000 | 2017-11-21 | 10-K |
| 2016-09-30 | 18,000 | 2016-11-22 | 10-K |
| 2015-09-30 | 17,500 | 2015-11-24 | 10-K |
| 2014-09-30 | 14,000 | 2014-11-25 | 10-K |
| 2013-09-30 | 13,000 | 2013-11-26 | 10-K |
| 2012-09-30 | 14,500 | 2012-11-27 | 10-K |
| 2011-09-30 | 10,300 | 2011-11-22 | 10-K |
| 2010-09-30 | 10,000 | 2010-11-23 | 10-K |
| 2009-09-30 | 10,300 | 2009-11-25 | 10-K |
| 2008-09-30 | 10,900 | 2008-11-25 | 10-K |
| 2007-09-30 | 11,300 | 2007-11-28 | 10-K |
| 2006-09-30 | 14,700 | 2006-12-08 | 10-K |
| 2005-09-30 | 13,400 | 2005-12-09 | 10-K |
| 2004-09-30 | 14,100 | 2004-12-10 | 10-K |
| 2003-09-30 | 14,800 | 2003-12-19 | 10-K |
| 2002-09-30 | 13,700 | 2002-12-24 | 10-K |
| 2001-09-30 | 13,700 | 2001-12-28 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- The site has no pattern for drug wholesalers alone, so the nondurable goods wholesale subsector is used (rule 3).
- More than 51,000 employees, of whom about 47,000 are full-time; the total is the filing's stated figure.
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001140859-25-000131, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Questions about this company
- How much of Cencora, Inc.'s working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 23% now and 36% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce Cencora, Inc.'s own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does Cencora, Inc. employ?
- 51,000 as of September 30, 2025, as its annual report for the period ending September 30, 2025 states. About 41% in the U.S.
- What kinds of work make up Cencora, Inc.'s workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 1 industry staffing pattern, the largest Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods; by those patterns the work is about 37% desk work, 19% people work and 44% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does Cencora, Inc.'s annual report say about AI?
- 15 sentences in the filing name AI. Its annual reports for fiscal 2021 to 2025 name it in 0, 0, 1, 1 and 15 sentences, year by year. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.1 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on October 2, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.