Carbonite Considers Company Sale Amid Private Equity Interest: Report -

Carbonite is considering a company sale after the data protection and cybersecurity software specialist received takeover interest from a private equity firm, according to Bloomberg.

Carbonite acquired Webroot in early 2019. Interim CEO Steve Munford has been running the company since Mohamad Ali stepped down in July 2019 to join a media company.

Carbonite's stock has lost 70 percent of its value over the past year, including a 24 percent drop in July after the company reported lower-than-expected revenues, lowered its Q3 guidance, and Ali resigned to take another job, The Motley Fool notes.

Carbonite's stock jumped around 17 percent on September 6 amid the private equity takeover rumors. The company's market capitalization is $487.5 million as of September 8, according to Yahoo Finance.

Carbonite Executive Leadership

Carbonite earlier this month named multiple Webroot veterans to join the combined company's executive team. The lineup includes:

John Post as Chief Operating Officer;

Chad Bacher as Chief Product Officer;

Hal Lonas as Chief Technology Officer; and

Scott Semel as Interim General Counsel.

Those executives join the following Carbonite readers on the leadership team:

Anthony Folger, Chief Financial Officer; and

Craig Stilwell, Chief Revenue Officer.

All of those executives report to interim CEO Steve Munford.

Private Equity Acquiring Carbonite?

Private equity firms have been particularly active in the data backup, business continuity and cybersecurity software markets. Example investments include:

Vista Equity owns Datto;

Thoma Bravo owns Barracuda Networks;

K1 backs Axcient; and

Insight Venture Partners has a stake in OwnBackup and Veeam, just to name a few.

A source in the private equity market notes that Carbonite could potentially tuck neatly into ConnectWise or Continuum -- essentially combining MSP management software with data backup and security software. Thoma Bravo owns both ConnectWise and Continuum, and rumors about their potential business combination has also popped up from time to time. Another source notes that Vista Equity just raised $16 billion for a new technology-focused fund -- though numerous private equity firms are flush with cash.

Amid all the chatter, ChannelE2E has not independently confirmed that Carbonite is exploring a company sale. Also, there's no guarantee that the company will actually be sold, according to the Bloomberg report.