MuleSoft's plan to be acquired by Salesforce could make founder Ross Mason a $300 million man
- MuleSoft founder Ross Mason is among those who will see a healthy windfall from the company's planned sale to Salesforce.
- The deal values Mason's stake in the company at about $300 million - or nearly double the value of his MuleSoft holdings a year ago when the company went public.
- Overall, the deal is valued at about $6.5 billion.
MuleSoft founder Ross Mason could soon be worth nearly $300 million - or nearly double his worth of a year ago.
Not bad for someone started out as a frustrated IT guy.
On Tuesday, Mason's company announced plans to be acquired by Salesforce in a $6.5 billion cash-and-stock deal. The agreement, which is subject to regulatory approval and shareholder acceptance of Salesforce's offer, would value Mason's stake in MuleSoft at $294.7 million.
Salesforce's offer, which amounts to about $44.89 per share, represents a 36% premium over MuleSoft's closing share price on Monday. Prior to the announcement of the acquisition plan, Mason's MuleSoft holdings were worth $216.9 million, so the premium represents a $77.9 million windfall just for him.
As of last March, when MuleSoft went public, Mason's holdings in the company were worth $167.5 million.
MuleSoft is an enterprise tech company that allows different applications to share data with each other. After going public, it's been reporting solid revenue growth. In the fourth quarter, the company posted $88.7 million in sales, topping analyst expectations. For the year, it reported $296.5 million in sales, up 58% from 2016.
Mason started Mulesoft in response to his experience working as a corporate IT director in Malta. Frustrated by how much work it took to get apps to talk with each other, he would complain to his wife. Eventually, his wife told him to stop complaining and do something about the problem, so Mason started Mulesoft.
Formerly the company's CEO, Mason is its vice president of product strategy.
According to regulatory filings he made in October - the most recent on record - Mason owns 6.1 million shares of MuleSoft stock and holds another 510,014 stock options that have a strike price of 13.5 cents a share each.