Intuit Finally Offloads Quicken

Intuit has managed to find a buyer for its Quicken unit, the company said on Friday (March 4).

The Wall Street Journal reported that Intuit will sell the segment to a private equity firm, HIG Capital, in a process that took six months after the financial software giant said that it was embarking on efforts to “pare down” operations.

Financial terms of the deal remain undisclosed. Intuit said, through a blog post via Quicken executive Eric Dunn, that “Quicken will thrive with increased investment” and further maintained that, post-transaction, he will be with the company. WSJ reported that the private equity buyer has about $19 billion under management.

Spokespeople for Intuit said that Dunn has also made an investment in Quicken and will indeed lead the firm. They also said that the transaction could be closed as early as next month.

In reference to the financial impact of Quicken, the unit brought in $51 million to the top line through the past year and yet posted a net loss. That’s a small percentage of the overall $4.2 billion in firmwide sales seen in the same period.

The unit sale might not come as a surprise to many, given the fact that Intuit said it was looking to sell QuickBase, a collaboration offering, along with Demandforce, said WSJ. The key, the company said half a year ago, is to streamline focus to be on the core businesses of smaller customers and also the well-known tax preparation segments. Still on the market is QuickBase, while Demandforce was sold last month to Internet Brands. The three units (including Quicken), said the company, would fetch roughly $500 million in proceeds. There will be an update on activity surrounding QuickBase within a few weeks.