Citrix Systems is acquiring acquire project and work management software company Wrike from private equity firm Vista Equity Partners for $2.25 billion in cash, the companies confirmed today. The deal's valuation is roughly 11.8 times Wrike's expected SaaS-based annual recurring revenue (ARR) for 2021, according to ChannelE2E calculations.
This is M&A deal number 53 that ChannelE2E has covered so far in 2021. See all technology M&A deals for 2021 and 2020 listed here.
Project management and work management software have become more popular amid the coronavirus pandemic. Indeed, businesses need specialized software to track workflow across teams that now work from random locations -- at home, in the office or in remote places.
Key Wrike alternatives and rivals include Asana, Clarizen, Hibox, Hygger, Freedcamp, Atlassian's Jira, Monday, nTask and Sendtask, among many others. In some ways, Wrike also competes with Atlassian's Trellow, Microsoft Teams and Slack.
M&A activity in and around the work management and project management market has been strong. For instance, Salesforce is acquiring Slack, and Planview is acquiring Clarizen.
Citrix Systems Acquires Wrike: Deal Details and Executive Perspectives
Wrike, based in San Jose, California, has more than 1,000 employees who serve roughly 18,000 customers, Citrix says. Wrike is expected to have approximately 30 percent stand-alone growth to between $180 million and $190 million in unaudited SaaS annualized recurring revenue (ARR) in 2021, with the opportunity to accelerate growth over time under Citrix’s ownership, the buyer says.
In a prepared statement about the deal, Citrix CEO David Henshall said:
“Work today is happening everywhere – at home, in the office and on the road. We believe that in the future, success will go to those companies that can support flexible and hybrid work models and provide a consistent, secure and efficient experience that removes the complexity and noise from work so employees can focus and perform at their best, wherever they happen to be. Together, Citrix and Wrike will deliver the solutions needed to power a cloud-delivered digital workspace experience that enables teams to securely access the resources and tools they need to collaborate and get work done in the most efficient and effective way possible across any channel, device or location.”
Added Andrew Filev, founder and CEO, Wrike:
“When it comes to the future of work, Citrix and Wrike share a common vision and mission: to reduce the complexity and chaos of work and empower every person, team, and organization to achieve their very best. Together, we will unlock the workspace of the future, truly transforming the work experience and equipping people with an innovative set of solutions they can use to exceed goals and keep business moving forward."
Citrix Systems Software Business Evolution
Citrix Systems has been evolving beyond virtualization software in a bid to expand the company' value "across all users" within an organization.
The evolution comes at a key time. While Citrix's virtualization software remains popular, it also faces growing competition from Microsoft Windows Virtual Desktop -- which runs on the Microsoft Azure cloud.
A longstanding Microsoft-Citrix partnership remains in place. But channel-friendly software companies such as Nerdio have been helping end user computing (EUC) partners and MSPs with Windows Virtual Desktop deployments -- some of which involve migrations away from Citrix's software.
Amid the business evolution, Citrix from time to time has been the subject of takeover rumors. Activist investor Elliott Management apparently pushed Citrix to potentially sell itself in 2019 but a deal never materialized. Around the same time in 2019, Citrix had some executive layoffs and staff cuts.
Citrix Systems Revenues
Citrix's revenue was $767 million in Q3 of 2020, up 4.7 percent from Q3 of 2019. Citrix is scheduled to announce Q4 2020 financial results on Thursday, January 21.
Originally published January 18, 2021. Updated January 19, 2021 with official deal details.
