Pivotal Software

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Pivotal Software, Inc.
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryComputer software
FoundedApril 2013 (2013-04)
DefunctDecember 2019 (2019-12)
FateAcquired by VMware
Headquarters
Key people
Paul Maritz
(Chairman)
Rob Mee
(CEO)
Bill Cook
(President)
Jason Hurst
(Chief of Staff, at founding)
RevenueUS$509.4M[1] (2017)
-US$163.5M (2017)
OwnerMichael Dell (70%)
Number of employees
2,971 (1Q 2020)
ParentBroadcom
Websitepivotal.io

Pivotal Software, Inc. was an American multinational software and services company based in San Francisco that provided cloud platform hosting and consulting services. Since November 2023, Pivotal has been part of Broadcom.

History[edit]

Pivotal office in Toronto

Pivotal Software was formed in 2012 after spinning out of EMC Corporation and VMware (which was majority-owned by EMC).[2] The name came from the Pivotal Labs LLC which had been acquired by EMC, and briefly used the name GoPivotal, Incorporated.[3] On April 24, 2013, the organization announced a US$105 million investment from General Electric (for 10% equity) and Pivotal One, including Cloud Foundry for cloud computing.[4][5]

Paul Maritz became Pivotal's chief executive immediately after the spin-out.[5] Maritz had joined EMC in February 2008 when Pi Corporation, a company he co-founded, was acquired and was previously the CEO of VMware.[6][7] The Greenplum Database (acquired by EMC in 2010) formed the basis of a division selling software for the big data market.[8]

In March 2013, a distribution of Apache Hadoop called Pivotal HD was announced, including a version of the Greenplum software for it called Hawq.[9]

Jason Hurst served as Chief of Staff and VP, Head of Corporate Development for Pivotal, where he was responsible for strategic initiatives and complex projects, including M&A and investments. Mr. Hurst also led M&A at VMware and helped to navigate the process of establishing Pivotal.

Paul Maritz became Pivotal's Chairman and Rob Mee, founder of Pivotal Labs, became chief executive officer of Pivotal Software on August 18, 2015. In May 2016, a US$253 million round of investment was announced, including Ford investments.[10] EMC also converted US$400 million of debt into equity at that time.[11][12]

In March 2018, the company filed for an initial public offering, debuting on the NYSE on April 20, 2018.[13][14] The trading price began at $15 a share, and closed with a 5% increase on its first day.[15] The company raised $555 million in the IPO.[16]

On August 14, 2019, VMware announced merger discussions with Pivotal, and a definitive agreement to acquire Pivotal Software was signed on August 22, 2019.[17] The merger was completed on December 30, 2019.[18] VMware folded Pivotal into the Tanzu application suite, with the Pivotal Labs consulting group rebranding to become VMware Tanzu Labs in January 2021.[19]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Balakrishnan, Anita (March 23, 2018). "Pivotal Software, majority-owned by Dell, files for IPO with over $500 million in revenue last year". CNBC. Retrieved March 29, 2018.
  2. ^ Om Malik; Stacey Higginbotham (July 16, 2012). "VMware plans cloud spin out to keep up with Microsoft, Amazon and Google". GigaOM. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  3. ^ "Notice of Exempt Offering of Securities". United States Securities and Exchange Commission. April 15, 2013. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  4. ^ "GE Joins EMC and VMware in a Joint Venture to Challenge Software Megavendors in the Cloud". Press Release. April 24, 2013. Archived from the original on April 28, 2013. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  5. ^ a b Quentin Hardy (April 24, 2013). "Pivotal's Audacious Plan". New York Times Bits. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  6. ^ "EMC To Acquire Pi Corporation, Developer of Personal Information Management Technology". Press release. EMC. February 21, 2008. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  7. ^ "Executive Team". Company web site. Pivotal. Archived from the original on November 18, 2013. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  8. ^ Jack Clark (April 24, 2013). "General Electric pours $105 MEEELION into Pivotal Initiative: Skunkworks lab for the industrial internet". The Register. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  9. ^ Timothy Prickett Morgan (July 17, 2013). "Pivotal ships eponymous Hadoop distro to the masses: An inquisitive HAWQ rides the big data elephant". The Register. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  10. ^ Arik Hesselhdahl (May 5, 2016). "Ford lead US$253 million investment in EMC-owned Pivotal". Recode. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
  11. ^ "Pivotal's Funding Picture Just Got a Lot More Interesting: EMC's debt conversion should grease the skids for a Pivotal IPO". Fortune. May 9, 2016. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  12. ^ "Notice of Exempt Offering of Securities". United States Securities and Exchange Commission. May 6, 2016. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  13. ^ Al-Muslim, Aisha (March 23, 2018). "Pivotal Software Files for IPO". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 29, 2018.
  14. ^ Owens, Jeremy C. "Pivotal prices IPO at $15 a share". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2018-04-20.
  15. ^ "Pivotal Software closed up 5% following IPO, raised $555 million". TechCrunch. April 20, 2018. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  16. ^ "Pivotal Software IPO Climbs Nearly 5% In First Day Of Trading". Investor's Business Daily.
  17. ^ "VMware Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Pivotal Software". investors.pivotal.io. Archived from the original on 2019-08-23. Retrieved 2019-08-23.
  18. ^ "VMware Completes Acquisition of Pivotal". Press Release.
  19. ^ "VMware Tanzu Labs: New Name, Even More Transformative Expertise". tanzu.vmware.com. Retrieved 2021-01-15.