Will dudes love or hate this billionaire story?

[get these nets]

Billionaire Robert Smith's firm sells software maker for $4.6 billion, doubling its initial investment

Smith passed Oprah Winfrey as the richest Black American in 2018 and is currently the world's 150th, according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index.

markets.businessinsider.com

Billionaire Robert Smith's firm sells software maker for $4.6 billion, doubling its initial investment​

Jun 27, 2023

Tech investor Robert Smith, the founder and CEO of Vista Equity Partners. Amy Harris/Invision/AP

• Robert Smith's Vista Equity Partners said Monday that it plans to sell Apptio to IBM for $4.6 billion.
• The private equity firm doubled its initial investment, having bought the software maker for $1.9 billion in 2019.
• Vista has now made $18 billion cashing out on its bets since November 2021.

Billionaire investor Robert Smith's private equity firm has doubled its money after striking a deal this week to sell a software maker.

Vista Equity Partners said in a statement Monday that it had agreed to sell Apptio to IBM for $4.6 billion.

That's a return of 142% on the $1.9 billion that Vista spent acquiring the Bellevue, WA-based software company in 2019.

IBM said in a separate statement that it will use cash on hand to fund the deal, which it expects to complete in the second half of 2023.


Vista, which is known for buying out software companies, has made $18 billion cashing out its bets since November 2021, according to its statement released Monday.

The deal with IBM could also mark a personal win for Smith, who's battling to show his investors that the company has moved on from his admission of tax evasion.

The tech investor, who founded Vista in 2000, paid a $139 million fine to settle a four-year-long investigation into his personal taxes in 2020.

Smith passed Oprah Winfrey as the richest Black American in 2018 and is currently the world's 150th wealthiest person with a personal fortune of $12 billion, according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index.


He also gained widespread recognition in 2019 when he said in a commencement speech for a college in Georgia that he would pay off the entire graduating class' student debt, estimated to be worth around $40 million.

Vista did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, sent outside working hours.

 

[BaggerofTea]

Only tolerable billionaire is a black billionaire.

 

[Neuromancer]

I love it.

 

[Ozymandeas]

Even with the Feds lingering, dealing with that cac that jammed him up was well worth it.

 

[Spectre]

Why would dudes hate him?

He's a black billionaire in tech and finance

Sound like an inspiration to me but haters gon hate I guess

 

[RARI_Godwind]

What this do to make the average Black family worldwide thousandnaires?

Congrats tho

 

[VoxSphere74]

This is the same dude who married and had kids with a cacette so his half white kids and white wife are going to get his money

 

[RickyDiBiase]

This is the same dude who married and had kids with a cacette so his half white kids and white wife are going to get his money

What are your kids going to inherent?

 

[Buddy]

This is the same dude who married and had kids with a cacette so his half white kids and white wife are going to get his money

He was married to a sister before. Coli brehs would've said "Get Married Brehs" and never looked back if it weren't for the moves he continues to make

 

[Scientific Playa]

What's there to hate? Breh retired quite a few student loans to help young ppl start out in life debt free. Also shared some of his wealth with HBCUs like Bill Cosby did in his heyday.

 

[zayk35]

See black media should be saying and touting his name as much as they do Elon, Bill, Jeff, Mark, and even Warren in the mainstream media.He may not be worth as much as those guys, but it sure beats us only hearing about the ones who are all just highly paid employees in their "partnerships".

 

[get these nets]

:;

 

[UncleTomFord15]

Why would anyone hate on this?

 

[UncleTomFord15]

This is the same dude who married and had kids with a cacette so his half white kids and white wife are going to get his money

He was married to a black Jamaican woman before and has like 3 kids with her. So I guess the money would be split amongst both sides.

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

I mean, yay for the black billionaire, but he's doing what all PE firms do, buy a company, fire 20-40% of the employees, offshore roles, cut salaries for new hires, be incredibly cheap with operating capital, be stingy with benefits, then sell it and profit while employees who worked to rebuild the company don't see shyt.