• Tech giant, Intuit To Acquire Mailchimp, the world’s most popular email marketing platform, in a whopping $12billion agreement, the two tech giants have announced.
• The global technology platform, Intuit (NASDAQ- INTU) makes TurboTax, QuickBooks, Mint, and Credit Karma.
• The acquisition of Mailchimp is approximately $12 billion in cash and stock.
• With the acquisition of Mailchimp, Intuit will accelerate two of its previously-shared strategic Big Bets: to become the center of small business growth; and to disrupt the small business mid-market.

In an email sent to its over 13 million users, Ben Chestnut, co-founder and CEO of Mailchimp confirms the acquisition. Assuring its customers, Ben Chestnut said: “Like Mailchimp, understanding small businesses is embedded in Intuit’s DNA, which affirms my belief that this is the right next step for Mailchimp, our employees, and importantly, our customers. Intuit is a mission-driven global financial technology platform, and you might already use some of their products – like TurboTax and QuickBooks – that enable small and mid-sized businesses to prosper. Combining our marketing platform with Intuit’s AI-driven expert platform will allow us to create products and services that solve our customers’ biggest challenges, so you can thrive. 

Together with Intuit, we’ll deliver an innovative small business growth engine powered by marketing automation, customer relationship management, accounting and compliance, payments and expense, and e-commerce solutions, creating a single source of truth for your business. We’ll also be able to offer more personalized support and onboarding, expand our international footprint, and scale our teams to innovate faster and deliver the solutions you want and need.”

“While our ownership will change once the transaction closes, which we expect to happen prior to the end of Intuit’s second-quarter fiscal 2022, our platform will stay Mailchimp through and through: the same user-friendly products and tools, the same resources and support, and the same brand you know and love. In fact, our goal is for all of these things to get even better as part of Intuit. And, in the meantime, you’ll have the customer experience you’ve come to expect from Mailchimp – including your monthly plan and 24/7 access to our award-winning support team. We know that our customers and partners expect consistency and continuity as much as they expect new features and functionality, and we’re committed to meeting your needs as we move forward together with Intuit. We’ll keep you updated as things progress.”

Modestly appreciating their long loyal customers the CEO remembers the little early beginnings, Chestnut refers to the Mailchimp initial logo as his ‘Little Monkey Sketch’. “Thanks for trusting us to help you grow your business.” He said. “At our core, Mailchimp will always be the humble little monkey that I sketched in those early days, and our mission to empower the underdog will always be our north star.”

“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,” said Sasan Goodarzi, CEO of Intuit. “Expanding our platform to be at the centre 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.”

Mailchimp brings Intuit technology at scale along with global customer reach. Founded in Atlanta, GA in 2001, Mailchimp began by offering email marketing solutions and evolved into a global leader in customer engagement and marketing automation fueled by a powerful, cutting-edge AI-driven technology stack.

Global customer reach with 13 million total users globally, 2.4 million monthly active users, and 800,000 paid customers; with 50 per cent of customers outside of the U.S.Data and technology in the form of 70 billion contacts, and 250+ rich partner integrations. AI-powered automation at scale fuels 2.2 million daily AI-driven predictions.

“Over the past two decades, we’ve vastly expanded and evolved Mailchimp’s platform to help millions of small businesses around the world start and grow,” said Ben Chestnut, CEO and Co-founder of Mailchimp. “With Intuit, we’ve found a shared passion for empowering small businesses. By joining forces with Intuit, we’ll take our offerings to the next level, leveraging Intuit’s AI-driven expert platform to deliver even better products and services to small businesses. This is an exciting new chapter for Mailchimp, our 1,200+ dedicated employees, and customers.”

Both Intuit and Mailchimp have always worked to solve small and mid-market businesses’ biggest challenges. For two-thirds of small businesses, finding new customers is their biggest obstacle and over 25 per cent struggle to retain existing customers, yet almost three-quarters of small businesses have not adopted a customer relationship management solution. Eighty-four per cent of small businesses use pen and paper or spreadsheets to reconcile their inventory across channels and 50 per cent of small businesses fail within the first five years due in large part to cash flow challenges. Collectively these challenges create barriers to small and mid-market business success that Intuit’s acquisition of Mailchimp will help solve.

“Together, Mailchimp and QuickBooks will become a powerful engine for small and mid-market business customers to get, engage and retain their customers, run their businesses, optimize cash flow and remain compliant,” said Alex Chriss, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Intuit Small Business and Self-Employed Group. “Today, QuickBooks helps more than 7 million small and mid-market businesses get paid fast, access capital, pay their employees and grow in an omnichannel world. Mailchimp’s addition will bring speed and velocity to these efforts, with the acceleration of mid-market expansion opportunities and global growth for both brands.”

Conference Call Details

Intuit and Mailchimp executives discussed the details of this transaction during a conference call with investors at 1:30 pm Pacific time on September 13, 2021, live at http://investors.intuit.com/Events/default.aspx Prepared remarks for the call will be available on Intuit’s website after the call ends.

Replay Information

A replay of the conference call will be available two hours after the call ends, for one week by calling 800-695-2533 or 402-530-9029 from international locations. No access code is needed. The audio webcast will remain available on Intuit’s website.

The Transaction In Details

The transaction is expected to be accretive to Intuit’s non-GAAP earnings per share for full-year fiscal 2022. Intuit has agreed to pay total consideration of approximately $12 billion to acquire Mailchimp, subject to customary adjustments for transactions of this nature.

The total consideration includes approximately $300 million of assumed Mailchimp employee transaction bonuses that will be issued in the form of restricted stock units, expensed over three years. The remaining consideration payable to Mailchimp’s equity holders will be payable in approximately equal parts of cash and Intuit common stock, with the shares of Intuit common stock being valued at $562.61 per share, calculated as the average of the daily volume-weighted average sales price per share for Intuit common stock for the five trading days ending on September 8, 2021. The per-share price of these shares has been fixed as of the signing date. The aggregate value of these shares will fluctuate based on changes in our share price between the signing date and the closing date.

Following the close of the transaction, Intuit will also issue $200 million of restricted stock units to Mailchimp employees, of which $140 million will be expensed over four years, and $60 million will be expensed over six months.

Intuit expects the cash consideration to be financed through cash on hand and new debt of approximately $4.5 billion to $5.0 billion. The transaction is not expected to have an impact on Intuit’s existing dividend and share repurchase principles. The transaction is expected to close prior to the end of Intuit’s second-quarter fiscal 2022, subject to receipt of required regulatory approvals and satisfaction or waiver of other customary closing conditions.

About Intuit

Intuit is a global technology platform that helps its customers and communities overcome their most important financial challenges. Serving approximately 100 million customers worldwide with TurboTax, QuickBooks, Mint and Credit Karma, with the belief that everyone should have the opportunity to prosper, Intuit never stops working to find new, innovative ways to make that possible.

About Mailchimp

Mailchimp is an all-in-one marketing platform for growing businesses. Mailchimp empowers millions of customers around the world to start and grow their businesses with world-class marketing technology, award-winning customer support, and inspiring content. Mailchimp’s marketing platform puts your audience at the heart of your marketing, so you can digitally promote your business across email, social media, landing pages, ads, websites, and more—all from one place. Millions of businesses and individuals—from community organizations to Fortune 100 companies—trust Mailchimp to help them connect with their audience with the right message, at the right time, in the right place. Founded in 2001 and based in Atlanta with offices in Brooklyn, Oakland, Vancouver, London, and Santa Monica, Mailchimp has 1,200+ employees and is privately held.