“After many years of a growth-oriented partnership with “I don’t anticipate employees are going to lose out,” he Tiliakos said he was curious to see if Ultimate’s approach to culture andīenefits can scale along with the new company’s business and whether it will Would become of its “People First” culture. When Ultimate went private, many observers wondered what In a statement, Ain said combining the Kronos and Ultimate teams “will create a company that is truly People Inspired.” (Emphasis his.) “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.” Also, the merger trims the number of choices available to smaller employers, who usually “shortlist” ADP, Ceridian and Kronos, he said. As a result, he expects more enterprises to consider Kronos as an HR tech option. The merger leaves the market with one less vendor holding large enterprise ambitions, said Holger Mueller, vice president and principal analyst at Constellation Research in Monte Vista, Calif. Presence, and it isn’t clear how the merger will impact their efforts to expand He said, both companies “are quite U.S.-centric” despite having an overseas Well as the ability to play higher up in the enterprise market over time.” However, Group, said the merged companies will enjoy “plenty of cross-sell potential as He and other analysts pointed out theirĬustomer bases fit neatly, with Ultimate’s customers leaning toward theĮnterprise while Kronos enjoys a greater presence among smaller organizations.ĭavid Wilson, CEO of the UK-based analyst firm the Fosway “These organizations are very similar in terms of revenue,Ĭulture and headcount,” Tiliakos said. Pete Tiliakos, principal analyst with Boston-based NelsonHall, said the merger “isn’t a big surprise, though I’m surprised it came so soon.” (H&F acquired Kronos in 2007.) At the time, H&F declined to acknowledge whether it saw any synergies between the companies, saying only that Ultimate would “operate independently within H&F’s portfolio.” The merger comes about a year after Hellman & Friedman took Ultimate private in an all-cash transaction worth about $11 billion. However, put together the companies will offer a suite of tools touching nearly every facet of workforce and human capital management. Ultimate doesn’t have a particularly strong workforce management component, while Kronos isn’t known for its HCM solution, said Trevor White, an analyst at Nucleus Research in Boston. Industry analysts say the merger is logical and plays to each business’s strengths.
Ultimate Software and Kronos, both controlled by PE firm Hellman & Friedman, will merge, the companies announced. Officer, while Ultimate CEO Adam Rogers will depart after assisting with theĮventually, the combined company will announce a new name.įor now, each business will continue to operate as either Ultimate Software or Kronos CEO Aron Ain will become chairman and chief executive The new company plans to add 3,000 employees over the next Ultimate Software and Kronos, both controlled by the private equity firm Hellman & Friedman, will merge to form a single HR technology provider with $3 billion in revenue, more than 12,000 employees world-wide, and an enterprise value of $22 billion.