Intuit has agreed to buy Atlanta-based email-marketing pioneer Mailchimp for about $12-billion in a move to offer a powerful customer growth engine that will help small businesses and accountants get and retain customers. You say 'wow' that's a lot of money, and you would be true... but look at what Intuit is getting out of the deal.
As a leader in customer engagement and marketing automation, Mailchimp can help both the SMB and accounting sectors of Intuit's customer base grow and run their businesses with greater confidence by helping them market their businesses, manage customer relations and promote their businesses online. Together, Mailchimp and QuickBooks can enable small and mid-market business customers to get, engage and retain their customers, run their businesses, optimize cash flow, and remain compliant. So does this mean that Mailchimp will become an Intuit App for QBO, or a plug-in for QuickBooks and the tax products, or perhaps work with the new eCommerce products? Well, why not any or all of those... as I said in my introductory description, "this is exciting stuff."
In a release to investors Intuit reported that the acquisition of Mailchimp will accelerate two of the company's previously shared strategic Big Bets: to become the center of small business growth; and to disrupt the small business mid-market. Sasan Goodarzi, CEO of Intuit reported to investors within that release, “We’re focused on powering prosperity around the world for consumers and small businesses. Together, Mailchimp and QuickBooks will help solve small and mid-market businesses’ biggest barriers to growth, getting and retaining customers. Expanding our platform to be at the center of small and mid-market business growth helps them overcome their most important financial challenges. Adding Mailchimp furthers our vision to provide an end-to-end customer growth platform to help our customers grow and run their businesses, putting the power of data in their hands to thrive.”
The cash and stock deal for Mailchimp will be the largest such deal Intuit has ever entered into. Reportedly the deal amounts to Intuit spending essentially 10% of its market capitalization to acquire Mailchimp. Last year, Intuit purchased Credit Karma for more than $8-billion. For more details concerning the transaction see the above referenced release to investors.