Progress Expands Portfolio: Acquisition of ShareFile

Progress CEO Yogesh Gupta has confirmed that the acquisition of ShareFile is expected to be completed by November 30. Through this strategic move, Progress aims to complement its portfolio with tools that help companies share and collaborate on documents more efficiently. “Companies today need to optimize their customer support while continuously improving their processes for increased efficiency, security, and compliance,” Gupta explained in a statement. “ShareFile customers will benefit from Progress' strong customer orientation, extensive product portfolio, expertise, and an unparalleled track record in customer service.” ShareFile, based in Raleigh, was founded in 2005 by Jesse Lipson, a self-taught programmer. Lipson originally developed ShareFile as a web-based solution for his web design clients who needed an easy way to exchange files with their customers. Without external capital or free offerings, ShareFile grew to three million users by 2011. Following its acquisition by Citrix in the same year, the user base rose to 40 million. Citrix continued to offer ShareFile both as a standalone service and as an integrated solution for its enterprise products. Lipson, who joined the Citrix C-suite post-acquisition, left the company in 2017. In 2023, ShareFile was acquired by the Cloud Software Group, a holding company owned by Citrix and data integration provider Tibco, for an undisclosed amount. Today, ShareFile offers a variety of business-oriented file transfer tools and services, including customizable, password-protected file portals, e-signing services, and compliance-compliant cloud solutions for healthcare and financial documents. Additionally, customers can deploy data from their own data centers. Cloud Software Group CEO Thomas Krause predicts that ShareFile will be highly profitable for Progress and will contribute up to $240 million in annual recurring revenue and 86,000 customers. The market for Enterprise File Sharing Services is indeed lucrative. Grand View Research analysts estimate it at $9.5 billion for 2023. Although ShareFile was not among the most used services last year, per Statista—Google Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, Box, and Jupyter were more popular—the market’s size means even a small share is profitable. “ShareFile has a long track record in secure content collaboration and customer interaction,” Krause said in a press release. “This transaction will enable ShareFile, as part of Progress, to continue this success in the long term. We are confident that ShareFile customers will benefit from Progress' deep customer engagement, extensive product portfolio, and broad user community.” Progress, based in Bedford, Massachusetts, plans to suspend its quarterly dividend post the ShareFile purchase to redirect capital towards debt repayment. Gupta added that this will enable Progress to increase liquidity for future mergers and acquisitions as well as stock buybacks. ShareFile is Progress’ first acquisition this year. The 43-year-old publicly traded company reported a 2.3% revenue decline in the second quarter of the current fiscal year compared to the same period last year. However, Progress expects revenues and adjusted earnings per share to be within or above the top end of its forecast for the third quarter.