On March 3, 2021, identity software provider, Okta announced in a press release that it will acquire identity provider Auth0, in a stock transaction worth approximately $6.5 billion.

A focus on workforce and customer identity

Okta’s founder and CEO, Todd McKinnon, a former VP of development at Salesforce, says in the press release, “Combining Auth0’s developer-centric identity solution with the Okta Identity Cloud will drive tremendous value for both current and future customers.”

The acquisition will bring together two companies focused on different markets of the identity ecosystem. Okta, which has focused on serving enterprise customers with products for identity and access management, single-sign on, cloud directory services, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and more will be strengthened by Auth0, which has focused more on serving developer and customer identity and access markets. 

Okta was recently ranked #5 and Auth0 #13 in a list of the Top 50 Products for Cloud IT Management in G2's 2021 Best Software Awards. Both products are listed as leaders in G2’s Identity and Access Management (IAM) Grid^Ⓡ.

Identity for consumers as customer interactions move online

This merger will enable Okta to service an even broader base, providing more services to the customer identity market.

As G2 analyst Stephanie Graham noted, “Around the world, consumers are using personal devices for working, shopping, schooling, and entertainment. This, in turn, means that consumers are increasingly likely to interact with a business through digital channels—for example, shopping through a website or app, following the company on social media, or interacting with customer support through live chat.” With the increase in consumer interactions online, companies need customer identity solutions to manage and authenticate these end users.

The acquisition is expected to close in July 2021.