Intuit, the company behind both TurboTax (opens in new tab) and QuickBooks (opens in new tab), is reportedly in talks to acquire the email marketing (opens in new tab) firm Mailchimp for $10bn.
As reported (opens in new tab) by Bloomberg, talks between the two companies are ongoing according to people familiar with the matter. If Intuit does end up acquiring Mailchimp (opens in new tab), it would be the company's largest deal ever.
While no final decision has apparently been made yet, discussions could still fall through. The anonymous sources familiar with the potential deal who spoke with Bloomberg also said that another buyer could emerge as several parties are interested in Mailchimp.
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Intuit (opens in new tab) also recently released its Q4 financial results as well as its results for the full year, revealing in a press release (opens in new tab) that the company brought in $9.6bn in total revenue for the year as well as $2.6bn during the fourth quarter. Intuit attributes some of it success last quarter to the addition of Credit Karma (opens in new tab) to its portfolio.
Expanding its small business offerings
If the deal between Intuit and Mailchimp does come to be, it would unite two makers of small business software (opens in new tab) while giving Intuit a presence in the growing email marketing space.
While Intuit has provided its QuickBooks accounting software (opens in new tab) to businesses for decades, the company supplemented this offering with its $7.1bn acquisition of Credit Karma last year. Mailchimp meanwhile delivers digital marketing services to small businesses including social advertising, shoppable links (opens in new tab) and automation products.
Back in August, Bloomberg reported (opens in new tab) that Mailchimp was considering a sale though the company is also open to offering a minority stake according to those familiar with the matter. While Intuit has set its eyes on Mailchimp, so too have private equity firms (opens in new tab) and other large tech companies.
We'll have to wait and see as to whether or not Intuit does end up acquiring Mailchimp or if the email marketing firm decides to court another buyer instead.
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Via Bloomberg (opens in new tab)