Monthly Archives: June 2016

Event tip: Dutch Information Visualization Event 2016

Dutch Information Visualization Event 2016

Quick event tip: are you based in the Netherlands and interested in (tool agnostic) Data Visualization? If so, check out the Dutch Information Visualization Event (DIVE 2016) on June 23rd in Utrecht. More information (in Dutch) can be found here.

Thoma Bravo acquires Qlik for 3 billion USD

Thoma-Bravo

Those who have been following the news around Qlik (the company) lately have probably noticed that something’s been stirring the past few months. It started in March with activist hedge fund Elliott Management disclosed that it had bought a significant stake in the company. Later that month, Elliott raised its share even further and began pushing for a sale of the company. Potential buyers that were named at that time were IBM or Oracle, neither of which seem like attractive alternatives to me.

It became clear to me that a sale was at least considered as an option by Qlik when I saw the updated the severance packages for tier 1 to 3 executives on Qlik’s Investor Relations page on April 1. Meanwhile, rumors about a potential sale were everywhere. Rumors are just rumors of course, but where there’s smoke…

Then things got quiet for a while, until June 1, when the news appeared that private equity firm Thoma Bravo had submitted a 2.8 billion USD bid on Qlik. And today, June 2, things came to a conclusion when it was announced that Thoma Bravo has acquired Qlik for 3 billion USD.

Of course, for Qlik customers, partners and us developers that raises some questions, and maybe even concerns. I decided to put some of my thoughts in this blog post.

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