LogMeIn (LastPass) to be acquired by Private Equity Firms
LogMeIn announced yesterday that it will be acquired by Private Equity Firm for approximately $4.3 billion in an all-cash transaction. LogMeIn had a strong portfolio of applications and services for Home users at one point in time; some may still remember Hamachi, a Lan-over-Internet service, Cubby, a cloud file storage service, or LogMeIn Free, a free remote access product.
The company acquired the maker of the popular password management solution LastPass in 2015. Most consumer products are no longer available as LogMeIn started to focus on Enterprise markets.
LastPass is still a popular solution when it comes to password management but things have heated up in the space considerable. New commercial and free contenders are available and it is easier than ever to switch between services.
LogMeIn, Inc. (NASDAQ: LOGM), a leading provider of cloud-based connectivity, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement (or the “Agreementâ€) to be acquired in a transaction led by affiliates of Francisco Partners, a leading technology-focused global private equity firm, and including Evergreen Coast Capital Corporation (“Evergreenâ€), the private equity affiliate of Elliott Management Corporation (“Elliottâ€), for $86.05 per share in cash. The all-cash transaction values LogMeIn at an aggregate equity valuation of approximately $4.3 billion.
The transaction is expected to close in mid-2020 according to the press release and it is " subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of stockholder and regulatory approvals". The future owners plan to "accelerate growth and product investment organically and inorganically".
What does it mean for LastPass customers?
The impact on LastPass is unknown at this point in time. It is quite possible that things stay the same or that major changes to the service will be announced. LastPass customers are advised to pay attention to announcements made by LogMeIn or the private equity firms once the deal passes to avoid that they are impacted by changes negatively.
Most password management solutions support the importing of LastPass data. If things go down south, LastPass customers could switch to a number of password management alternatives such as Bitwarden, Dashlane, 1Password, or, my personal favorite, KeePass.
Now You: What is your take on the press release?
BitWarden’s free open source password manager works great for me and my family. I had issues with LastPass and their technical support was horrible. Private Equity Firm will gut LogMeIn and LastPass for quick profit, getting rid of free home user versions of their software programs. Expect nonexistent customer support and immediate price increases.
I have been using Lastpass for some years now. It had mostly been a pleasant journey.
My main reason for considering migrate to another provider is the price.
Some years ago I paid 12 usd a year for Lastpass Premium.
Now I use the family version. Holding me back 48 usd.
I consider NordVPN/Nordpass bundle, Keepass, Bitwarden and others.
My needs are
safe
secure
family friendly (sharing pw)
use at Chrome (Windows/PC)
use at my android cell phone
fingerprint unlocking
secure vault system with possibillity for another security step within the app
pricing
Lastpass Family at 48 usd a year + VAT is too much for me
a fair priced “special offer” lifetime sucription would be my favourite
I used LastPass, but I did not liked it. If I generated a new password and saved it – I could not log in later. I always saw the message: “the password is not correct”. If I had a few accounts on the same platform (personal and business) – LastPass tool mixed passwords (login of personal acc and password of business acc or opposite). So I moved to PassCamp.
Perhaps a good time to consider the usage of a Password Manager in the first place. For techies, they have their place, but for non-techies they can be the wrong answer. I list 14 problems with Password Managers in general, not picking on any one program, in my blog where I argue in favor of a password formula. A formula too is not the right solution for everyone, but it is a good fit for many people.
https://michaelhorowitz.com/BestPasswordAdvice.php
good info and creative solutions, Thanks
It’s really too bad that your site doesn’t allow comments.
Password Safe (Pwsafe.org)
on Win with the dbase on cloud, Strongbox app on iOS, pwsafe for Android — access on all platforms.
Currently LastPass encrypts on user’s computer. LastPass itself does not have access to user’s passwords. If that changes, I’m dropping it.
Wow, had been using LastPass for the last 3 years, so I hope nothing will change, but if it does change – no worries, my new NordVPN subscription came with a password manager included.
Don’t forget Bitwarden really good alternative to LastPass I’ve been using it for the past 6 months. Even has a feature to integrate multi factor into it!
What alternate software can import LastPass data?
Bitwarden imported all my LP data without a hitch a few weeks ago.
I expect nothing based on this. I Know nothing about the current owner structure and it wasn’t a parameter we took into consideration when we started using it at work.
Hopefully they’ll continue to develop and improve LastPass Enterprise and making it more user-friendly.
After they killed of Xmarks last year I have given up on them. LogMeIn has such a checkered past it is hard to trust them. That said I did use quite a few of their products over the years until Xmarks.
What is your take on the press release?
I like it. I’m going to print it out, frame it, and hang it in my dungeon.
Used LastPass in the past. It was a very good service. Then switched to Bitwarden two years ago because LastPass extension on Firefox became very buggy when Firefox switched to Chromium extension system.
Bitwarden is “almost” similarly good. It’s also open-source. But beware not to forget the master password.
Isn’t this the same for Lastpass too? Forgetting your master password means you can’t access your other passwords too (unless you set it to remember your password so you are still logged in)
I switched to Bitwarden recently, though I kept Lastpass around in case. So far, I m liking Bitwarden
I would very much like to read an article on the best way to move my LastPass data over to Firefox.
After many years of being a LastPass user, I moved to BitWarden Premium a few months back and I have been very happy. Seeing this just makes me that much more convinced I did the right thing.
I’m really surprised to see that RoboForm Everywhere was not listed as an alternative to LassPass. I’ve used for over 5 years and love it.
Agreed. Roboform is a good alternative. I used Lastpass for years, but had some technical problems and their technical support was just plain bad. Switched to Roboform and haven’t looked back.
It just does what it’s supposed to. Fill logins and forms without having to perform 9 clicks to do so.
Shame, I really enjoyed a lot of LogMeIn’s products, I expect them to be gutted or at the very least the quality to drop, to say nothing of what’ll happen to normal employees.
Hmm. Looks like keepassxc which i using is good solution.
Yes. I’ve yet to find anything that matches Keepass (portable.) Simple and effective.
I moved to Bitwarden 2 years ago and have never regretted it.
But you will…
Why do you say that?
There’s no reason he will. Even if they do something dubious anyone can fork it as it’s all open source.
It can also be self hosted!
Play Taps for them!
Private equity firms are like the grim reaper. They exist to drain all remaining value from an asset before throwing it on the trash heap.
Agreed. Step 1 in their strategic operational efficiency plan: reduce those expensive Engineer salaries. Reducing headcount will let them focus on growth through marketing and sales.
Fortunately, there’s opportunity to co-own all Saas platforms. It’ll just take a while.