Adobe to acquire PE-backed Marketo for $4.75bn

December 2018 | DEALFRONT | PRIVATE EQUITY & VENTURE CAPITAL

Financier Worldwide Magazine

December 2018 Issue

In a $4.75bn deal between two companies with a strong belief in the power of content and data to drive business results, American multinational computer software company Adobe is to acquire Marketo, a software company focused on account-based marketing.

According to Adobe, the addition of Marketo’s market-leading cloud platform for B2B marketing engagement to its Experience Cloud platform will enable Adobe to offer an unrivalled set of solutions for delivering transformative customer experiences across industries and companies of all sizes.

The combination of Adobe and Marketo is expected to enable businesses to: (i) acquire more customers through targeted, account-based advertising; (ii) improve campaign creation and execution velocity with access to an intelligent repository of content assets; (iii) use a data-driven approach to focus sales and marketing activities on the most valuable prospects and customers; and (iv) deliver cross-channel experiences including web, mobile, email, in-store and in-person that are personalised and consistent.

“The imperative for marketers across all industries is a laser focus on providing relevant, personalised and engaging experiences,” said Brad Rencher, executive vice president and general manager of digital experience at Adobe. “The acquisition of Marketo widens Adobe’s lead in customer experience across B2C and B2B and puts Adobe Experience Cloud at the heart of all marketing.”

2018 has turned out to be a dealmaking high point for Adobe, with the acquisition of Marketo following a deal to acquire Magento – a platform for open commerce innovation – in May. “The addition of Marketo and Magento to the Adobe family demonstrates our commitment to enhancing our industry-leading platform and solutions, and will further strengthen our ability to deliver significant business results for all our customers – from large enterprises to mid-market and small businesses,” adds Mr Rencher.

Marketo, Adobe’s latest acquisition, is headquartered in San Mateo, California and has offices around the world, which allows it to serve as a strategic partner to large enterprises and fast-growing organisations across a wide variety of industries. With approximately 5000 customers, Marketo brings together planning, engagement and measurement capabilities into an integrated B2B marketing platform.

“Adobe and Marketo both share an unwavering belief in the power of content and data to drive business results,” said Steve Lucas, chief executive of Marketo. “Marketo delivers the leading B2B marketing engagement platform for the modern marketer, and there is no better home for Marketo to continue to rapidly innovate than Adobe. Furthermore, Marketo’s exceptional lead management, account-level data and multi-channel marketing capabilities will combine with Adobe’s rich behavioural dataset to create the most advanced, unified view of the customer at both an individual and account level.”

Upon the close of the Adobe/Marketo transaction, Mr Lucas will join Adobe’s senior leadership team and continue to lead the Marketo team as part of Adobe’s Digital Experience business, reporting to Mr Rencher, executive vice president and general manager.

The transaction, which is expected to close during the fourth quarter of Adobe’s 2018 fiscal year, is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions. Until the transaction closes, each company will continue to operate independently.

Mr Lucas concluded: “Adobe is a visionary enterprise technology company, admired by customers around the world for the way it helps them to bring digital experiences to life. Together we will deliver an unrivalled solution that will place customer experience and engagement at the heart of digital transformation.”

Fraser Tennant