Intuit is buying Mailchimp for US$12 billion to focus on small businesses

Intuit is buying email newsletter platform Mailchimp for about US$12 billion. (Tiffany Hagler-Geard/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

Intuit is buying email newsletter platform Mailchimp for about US$12 billion.

The maker of tax return product TurboTax and other financial software announced the cash-and-stock deal Monday, saying that it hopes Mailchimp will help it "become the center of small business growth."

As part of the agreement, Mailchimp will work with QuickBooks, Intuit's accounting software, to help small and medium-sized businesses acquire and retain customers, Intuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi said in a statement.

Mailchimp has "a lot of customer data. We have all the purchase data," Goodarzi told investors on a conference call Monday. "The magic is putting these two together."

Mailchimp was founded in Atlanta in 2001 and has 13 million users, ranging from small businesses and individuals to Fortune 100 companies. Together, the two firms plan to help companies market their businesses online, manage customer relationships and access capital.

"This is an exciting new chapter for Mailchimp, our 1,200+ dedicated employees, and customers," said Ben Chestnut, CEO and co-founder of Mailchimp, in a statement.

Intuit said the transaction, which is still subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to close before the end of the company's second quarter in fiscal 2022.