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"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently."

-Henry Ford

September 20,2018

Adobe Nears Acquisition of Marketo for $5B

martinwolf Transaction Analysis
Financial Information*
  • Enterprise Value                                       ~$5B*
  • EV/LTM Revenue                                      N/A
  • EV/LTM EBITDA                                        N/A
Transaction Facts
  • According to CNBC, Adobe is closing in on an acquisition of marketing automation software company Marketo for around $5B.
  • While Adobe and Marketo spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment, the deal could potentially be announced as early as today.
Buying at a Premium
  • High Valuation: In 2016, Adobe and Microsoft both bid for Marketo, but private equity firm Vista Equity Partners won the bid; Vista acquired the company for $1.8B in May 2016. The buyout took Marketo off the public market three years after its $80M IPO. Adobe’s readiness to pay billions more indicates a greater demand for marketing automation software — and the ability to directly compete with Salesforce.
  • Grand Vision: The acquisition would also give Adobe the means to reach into the middle market without sacrificing their enterprise customers. In addition, Marketo could pair well with Adobe’s acquisition of Magento for $1.68B in May, which brought the company native commerce capabilities to its suite. Most of all, this deal would give Adobe a big push into the B2B marketing automation market.
  • Notable Transactions: The acquisition would be the largest for the digital experience software provider space, but the last two years has seen a few similar billion-dollar deals. In addition to the acquisitions mentioned above, EQT acquired Sitecore for $1.14B in April 2016, while Insight Venture Partners acquired Episerver for $1.16B this month.
For more information about this transaction, click here to read the report.
 
*Financial information from the article.
 
martinwolf was not the advisor in this transaction.
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