- Date
- September 20, 2018
- Kind
- Acquisition
- Significance
- High
On September 20, 2018, Adobe announced a definitive agreement to acquire Marketo, a B2B marketing automation company, for $4.75 billion, subject to customary purchase price adjustments.
The terms and the close
- The acquisition was completed on October 31, 2018, about six weeks after the announcement.
- According to Adobe’s filing, the aggregate purchase price was approximately $4.74 billion in cash, which included repaying about $464.9 million of Marketo’s existing debt.
What the deal covered
Marketing automation software is what business-to-business teams use to run email programs and nurture leads before handing them to sales. The Adobe filings listed below set out the terms and the completion.
Why it matters
It gave Adobe a leading B2B marketing automation product to sit beside its content and analytics tools, and it made marketing automation a battleground between the large suites. Marketo co-founder Jon Miller returned to the category in 2026 with Phave (see the Phave entry).
What happened next
Adobe completed the deal on October 31, 2018, as set out in its filing.