SolarWinds to Go Private for $4.4B

NEWS BRIEF SolarWinds, the software and IT company that faced a major supply chain cyberattack in 2020, today announced that it will be acquired by Turn/River Capital for $4.4 billion, or $18.50 per share. Along with unanimous approval from its board of directors, the transaction also received written approval from Thoma Bravo and Silver Lake, SolarWinds' majority shareholders with a combined 65% of the outstanding voting securities. SolarWinds will become a privately held company, no longer listed on the New York Stock Exchange, though it will continue to operate under the name SolarWinds and stay headquartered in Austin, Texas. "This successful transaction and exciting partnership are testaments to our employees' outstanding work of building exceptional solutions and delivering great customer success," said Sudhakar Ramakrishna, president and CEO of SolarWinds, in a statement. "We are confident that Turn/River's expertise and growth orientation will help us ensure SolarWinds continues to drive innovation and deliver even greater value for customers and stakeholders." In 2020, roughly 33,000 of SolarWinds' customers were impacted in a major supply chain attack, affecting thousands of organizations as well as the US government. The breach targeted the SolarWinds Orion management system, where it is believed that Nobelium, a nation-state hacking group, gained access to the company's networks in September 2019. The attackers inserted malicious code, known as Sunburst, into the ...