SolarWinds May Be Looking To Go Private Again: Report

SolarWinds, which has gone from a public to a private company before, may be looking to do so again, with Bloomberg reporting that the observability and IT service management platform developer is looking at setting plans to go private early next year.

Observability and IT service management platform developer SolarWinds may be looking to go private in a deal next year.

Bloomberg reported Friday that publicly-traded SolarWinds is exploring options including a potential sale of the Austin, Texas-based company.

It would not be the first time SolarWinds went public. The company, which was founded in 1999 and had its IPO in 2009, was in 2016 acquired by Silver Lake Partners and Thoma Bravo in a deal worth about $4.5 billion. SolarWinds had a second IPO in late 2018.

[Related: SolarWinds Execs Receive SEC Wells Notice Related To ‘Sunburst’ Cyberattack]

Silver Lake and Thoma Bravo still own about 68 percent of SolarWinds’ common stock, Bloomberg reported.

SolarWinds did not respond to a CRN request for further information by press time.

Bloomberg, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, reported that SolarWinds is working with financial advisers to prepare a sale process expected to start in early 2024.

SolarWinds in August reported revenue for its second fiscal quarter 2023, which ended June 30, of $185.0 million, which was up 5 percent over the same period of fiscal 2022. About 92 percent of that was recurring revenue.

The company also reported GAAP net income for the quarter of $260,000, a significant improvement over the $622.1 million net loss the company reported last year, and a non-GAAP net income of $24.1 million, down from last year’s $34.5 million.

SolarWinds in the past was a significantly larger company. However, in 2021 it spun out its N-able MSP-focused business via an IPO for that business.

The year before, SolarWinds experienced one of the worst cybersecurity hacks in the last decade when Russian government-backed hackers were able to go through SolarWinds to breach security technology provider FireEye, which impacted about 18,000 enterprises and government agencies.