AOL Money & Finance

Mint.com strikes gold with Intuit's $170M buyout

Posted Sep 14th 2009 1:40PM by Tom TaulliTom Taulli RSS Feed
Filed under: Intuit Inc (INTU)

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I recently had a chance to talk to the CEO and founder of Mint.com, Aaron Patzer. As always, he was upbeat. Then again, his website -- which provides free financial planning services -- has continued to grow at a rapid clip (gaining 100,000 new registered users per month). Also, Mint.com raised $14 million in venture capital.

Well, Patzer has another reason to be excited: he's selling Mint.com for a cool $170 million to rival Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU).


In a way, Intuit had little choice. Simply put, Mint.com was quickly becoming the dominant player in the space. Besides, Intuit knows that -- to remain competitive -- it needs a strong web-based offering, which is critical in attracting the younger demographic.

Interestingly enough, Mint.com could be expanded greatly through Intuit's small business footprint. In this tough economy, small businesses need ways to better track finances -- as well as get cost savings.

This does not mean that Quicken Online will go away. If anything, this offering still has a thriving business for the desktop and mobile devices.

Of course, there are some skeptics. Consider Jacob Jegher, who is a senior analyst with Celent. According to him: "While they have been successful at growing the user base, it's unclear if Mint has actually been able to generate revenue. They started off with a model based on referrals and suggestions (e.g. suggest a new credit card that may be better than the one you currently have). In May, Mint announced that they 'may begin to sell anonymous consumer data,' a practice I am very much against."

The deal -- which is expected to close in Q4 -- is anticipated to reduce fiscal year 2010 GAAP earnings by 3 cents per share. And, so far in today's trading, Intuit's shares are unchanged at $27.94.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook.

Tags: Aaron Patzer, AaronPatzer, inthenews, intu, Mint.com, Quicken

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Last updated: November 26, 2009: 01:32 AM

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