VMware Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Pivotal Software

Accelerates Any Cloud, Any App, Any Device Strategy

Positions VMware to deliver the most comprehensive enterprise-grade Kubernetes-based portfolio for Modern Applications

$11.71 Blended Price Per Share; $15 Cash Per Share for Public Stockholders

Enterprise Value of $2.7 billion

PALO ALTO, Calif., Aug. 22, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW), a leading innovator in enterprise software, and Pivotal Software, Inc. (NYSE: PVTL), a leading cloud-native platform provider, today announced that the companies have entered into a definitive agreement under which VMware will acquire Pivotal for a blended price per share of $11.71, comprised of $15 per share in cash to Class A stockholders, and the exchange of shares of VMware’s Class B common stock for shares of Pivotal Class B common stock held by Dell Technologies, at an exchange ratio of 0.0550 shares of VMware Class B stock for each share of Pivotal Class B stock. In total, the merger consideration represents an enterprise value for Pivotal of $2.7 billion. The Board of Directors of each of VMware and Pivotal have approved this transaction, following the recommendations of special committees composed of independent directors of each company. Following the close of the transaction, VMware will be positioned to deliver the most comprehensive enterprise-grade Kubernetes-based portfolio for modern applications.

Pivotal is a technology leader that is transforming the way the world’s largest companies build and run software applications. For the last six years, Pivotal has been at the leading-edge of modern software development, helping organizations transform how they build and run their most important applications. Pivotal offers a powerful set of assets including a leading developer-centric platform, tools and services that accelerate modern app development. Additionally, Pivotal is a major contributor to the Spring developer framework, which sees more than 75 million downloads per month. The company is fully embracing Kubernetes with the recent launch of Pivotal Spring Runtime for Kubernetes and the upcoming Pivotal Application Service for Kubernetes.

VMware and Pivotal share a long history of collaboration and joint innovation, reflected in the co-development and launch of VMware Pivotal Container Service (PKS) in February of 2018. VMware has increased its Kubernetes-related investments over the past year with the acquisition of Heptio, and the Kubernetes founders, to become one of the top three contributors to Kubernetes. The combination of Pivotal’s developer experience and assets with VMware’s IT expertise and infrastructure will help deliver a comprehensive portfolio of products, tools and services necessary to build, run and manage modern applications on Kubernetes infrastructure with velocity and efficiency.

“Kubernetes is emerging as the de facto standard for multi-cloud modern apps. We are excited to combine Pivotal’s development platform, tools and services with VMware’s infrastructure capabilities to deliver a comprehensive Kubernetes portfolio to build, run and manage modern applications,” said Pat Gelsinger, CEO of VMware. “Importantly, adding Pivotal to our platform, accelerates our broader Any Cloud, Any App, Any Device vision and reinforces our leadership position in modern multi-cloud IT infrastructure.”

“The time is ideal to join forces with VMware, an industry leader who shares our commitment to open source community contributions and our focus on adding developer value on top of Kubernetes,” said Rob Mee, CEO, Pivotal. “VMware has a proven track record of helping organizations run and manage consistent infrastructure in support of mission critical applications, and our two companies have already built a strong foundation on our successful VMware PKS collaboration. We look forward to continuing our work with VMware to provide even more value to customers building modern applications.”

“The VMware Board of Directors is committed to creating value for all stockholders,” said Karen Dykstra, Chairperson of the Special Committee of VMware’s Board of Directors. “After a thorough and independent evaluation with its advisors, and working closely with the VMware management team, the Special Committee recommended the Board approve this transaction with Pivotal given its strong strategic and long-term value to the company and its customers.”

Details Regarding the Transaction

Under the terms of the transaction, Pivotal’s Class A common stockholders will receive $15.00 per share cash for each share held, and Pivotal’s Class B common stockholder, Dell Technologies, will receive approximately 7.2 million shares of VMware Class B common stock, at an exchange ratio of 0.0550 shares of VMware Class B common stock for each share of Pivotal Class B common stock. This transaction, in aggregate, results in an expected net cash payout for VMware of $0.8 billion. The impact of equity issued to Dell Technologies would increase its ownership stake in VMware by approximately 0.34 percentage points to 81.09% based on the shares currently outstanding. VMware currently holds 15 percent of fully-diluted outstanding shares of Pivotal. The transaction is expected to be funded through cash on the balance sheet, accessing short-term borrowing capacity, and approximately 7.2 million shares of VMware Class B common stock to Dell. Closing of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions including the approval of the merger agreement by the holders of at least a majority of the outstanding shares of Pivotal common stock not owned by VMware or Dell Technologies or their affiliates (a “majority-of-the-minority” vote) and is expected in the second half of VMware’s fiscal year 2020, which ends January 31, 2020.

Advisors

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC served as financial advisor and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati served as legal counsel to VMware. Lazard served as financial advisor and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP served as legal counsel to the Special Committee of the VMware Board of Directors. Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP served as legal counsel to Pivotal. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC served as financial advisor and Latham & Watkins, LLP served as legal counsel to the Special Committee of the Pivotal Board of Directors.

Investor’s Conference Call

The company will host a previously-announced conference call today at 1:30 p.m. PT/ 4:30 p.m. ET to review financial results, discuss the proposed transaction, and business outlook. A live web broadcast of the event will be available on the VMware investor relations website at http://ir.vmware.com. Slides will accompany the web broadcast. The replay of the webcast and slides will be available on the website for two months. In addition, six quarters of historical data for unearned revenue will also be made available at http://ir.vmware.com in conjunction with the conference call.

Pivotal will report financial results for the second quarter fiscal year 2020, which ended on August 2, 2019, on Wednesday, September 4, 2019 following the close of market. Given today’s announcement, Pivotal will not be hosting a conference call to discuss the financial results.

Additional Resources

• Learn more about the news here
• Read Pivotal’s blog post on the news

About Pivotal

Pivotal combines our cloud-native platform, developer tools, and unique methodology to help the world’s largest companies transform the way they build and run their most important software applications. Our technology is used by Global 2000 companies to achieve strategic advantages in software development and IT operations. Learn more at pivotal.io.