Kronos and Ultimate Software Merge to Form $22B Software Company

Kronos Incorporated and Ultimate Software announced on Thursday that they will merge to form one of the world’s largest HR software systems. Expected to close at the end of March 2020, the merger will result in a HCM and workforce management software company valued at $22 billion, with a combined revenue of $3 billion. 

The private equity firm Hellman & Friedman LLC, together with JMI Equity, took Kronos private in 2007 for $1.8 billion, and will be the controlling shareholder of the newly formed company. Following H&F, private equity funds managed by Blackstone will be the largest minority investor, followed by GIC, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), and JMI Equity.

According to G2’s Winter 2020 HR Management Suites Grid® report, Kronos’ Workforce Central and Workforce Ready and Ultimate’s UltiPro are all rated as Leaders in the HR Management Suites category with substantial Market Presence scores. Moreover, the merger of these two HR software systems is bound to impact every HR category they touch.

According to Aron Ain, chief executive officer of Kronos and the the CEO of the new company, Kronos and Ultimate teams will “create a company that is truly People Inspired. Together, we will expand the value we deliver to customers and create the industry’s most comprehensive human capital management and workforce management solution for organizations around the world.”

Meanwhile, Adam Rogers, chief executive officer at Ultimate said of the merger, “The combination of Ultimate and Kronos paves the way to deliver the next generation of employee-facing solutions that will set the standard for the workforce of the future.”

With joint headquarters in Lowell, MA, and Weston, FL, the merger will create a company with a 12,000-person global workforce. An additional 3,000 employees are expected to be recruited over the next three years.