It has been announced just a few hours ago that Qlik have been purchased by Thoma Bravo, a private equity investment firm with a broad portfolio of companies already under it’s wing. What does this acquisition mean for our favourite BI platform?
Qlik Acquired
There are a number of sources reporting the purchase of Qlik by Thoma Bravo for $3.0 billion. Most of them at present simply quoting from the press release that has been issued.
A few of these sources can be found here:
Business Wire
Wall Street Journal
Bloomberg
Fortune
Qlik
From what has been said so far, it would appear that this is going to be as near to situation normal as we as a developer community could hope for, with the same management team and head office location remaining in place.
For those who have invested in shares in Qlik, today is a very good day, as they can expect a windfall on their shares as a result of the acquisition.
What Does This Mean For QlikView and Qlik Sense?
As far as I can see, this can only be a positive announcement for users and integrators of Qlik products. The acquisition would appear to be welcomed by Qlik management, and Lars Björk has said that this acquisition will allow Qlik the flexibility to execute their strategic plan.
So, hopefully the injection of funds into the business will accelerate the development of the platform and mean that we can expect to see great new features in Qlik Sense 3.0 and beyond.
The hottest topic in the Qlik space at the moment is definitely the positioning of QlikView vs Qlik Sense, and it will remain to be seen whether anything will change on this front. It would be nice to see the investment giving Qlik the flexibility to truly deliver on the two product strategy it talked about – but this remains to be seen.
Looking at the roster of companies that Thoma Bravo have already invested in, they certainly seem to have an active interest in companies that are pushing new technology and have innovative solutions. This can only be a positive thing, as I see it.
Given the fact that there have been rumblings about companies that already have their own BI products purchasing Qlik, it is a relief that the purchase has instead come from someone who is not going to look to integrate features of Qlik Sense and QlikView into their own product range and then retire the products. This has been a concern since the IPO, and today will hopefully mean the chances of that happening are significantly reduced.
And Where To From Here?
Obviously this is still breaking news as I write, so it is far too early to talk about what changes it will bring about. I will add to the comments on this post as new information comes to light. I would also welcome you to add your thoughts and any further information on the topic below also.
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