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Zendesk and Anaplan: A Tale of Two Very Similar, And Very Different, $10B SaaS Acquisitions

SaaStr

But it also viscerally shows how much the bar has changed for a $10B PE acquisition in SaaS in just a few months. We’ll see, but Zendesk for $10B in 2022 may turn out to be the LinkedIn for $26B in 2016 of this downturn. (And yes, Zendesk also said No to another PE offer months prior at a much higher price). in ARR to do the same.

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Sales Efficiency through Covid : Reading the Tea Leaves for Startups

Tom Tunguz

In 2017, SaaS companies reported their cost of customer acquisition had increased by 65% in the previous five year period. Since 2016, the average public software witnessed its sales efficiency winnowed from 52% to 47%, a decline of about 10%. More competition increases costs of customer acquisition. What happened?

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5 Interesting Learnings from LinkedIn at $10 Billion in ARR

SaaStr

So Microsoft announced that LinkedIn, which it bought in 2016, has now crossed a stunning $10 Billion in ARR — and growing 27% year-over-year. Revenue tripled since Microsoft acquisition in 2016. Members “only” up 70%, while revenue up 300% since 2016. LinkedIn sold to Microsoft in 2016 for $26B.

B2C 328
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The Salesforce/Mulesoft Acquisition is a Bellwether for the 2018 M&A Market

Tom Tunguz

Year of Acquisition. If we compare this acquisition on other dimensions, we see that Mulesoft is the second fastest growing at the time of acquisition, next to SuccessFactors in 2011. In the first three months of 2018, we’ve witnessed two multibillion dollar software acquisitions. TTM Rev ($M). Growth Rate.

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The Biggest Buyers of Software Companies in 2016

Tom Tunguz

In 2016, I believe they will enjoy a very active acquisition environment. Salesforce also pursued a more measured acquisition pace, and dropped to fewer than 10 acquisitions in 2015 to date, less than half of last year. Their significant cash positions and substantial market caps enable them to swallow a $1B acquisitions.

Software 100
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The Quirky M&A Environment for SaaS Companies in 2016

Tom Tunguz

Through the end of July in 2016, $70B worth of SaaS companies sold. The more than $600B in cash on the balance sheets of large public tech companies combined with a recent pricing correction in SaaS companies presaged a flurry of acquisition activity. First, 15 of the 22 US software acquisitions worth more than $0.5B

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Three Observations About the Adobe/Marketo Acquisition

Tom Tunguz

trailing twelve months, the third highest multiple for large software acquisitions. Had Adobe won the bidding in 2016 for the company, they could have owned the same asset for $3B less. Adobe paid 14.8x The other two, Mulesoft and Github, also transpired this year.