Billionaire Robert Smith Sells Software Company for $4.6 Billion

Robert F. Smith / Reuters

Billionaire investor Robert Smith has boosted his private equity firm’s revenue.

Smith’s Vista Equity Partners plans to sell Apptio to IBM for $4.6 billion, Markets Insider reports. The sale of the software maker has doubled the firm’s money after acquiring it for $1.9 billion back in 2019.

As AfroTech reports, IBM said it “will use cash on hand to fund the deal, which it expects to complete in the second half of 2023.”

“With over $96 billion in assets under management and over 20 years of investing exclusively in enterprise software, we believe the transformative power of technology is the key to an even better future — a healthier planet, a smarter economy, a diverse and inclusive community, and a broader path to prosperity,” the Vista Equity Partners’ website states

Smith is not only focused on software but also plays an active role in education through the Student Freedom Initiative (SFI).

“We’re bringing solar panel systems to one of the HBCUs, which will actually power 20,000 homes,” Smith told AfroTech. “Our plan is that as we offset our greenhouse gases across our portfolio companies, we actually enable the building and construction of solar arrays in underrepresented minority neighborhoods we use for our HBCU students to learn, train and develop their capacity to participate in that part of the industry as well.”