Tampa Bay Times article published
November 13, 2019:
Whats it like to sell a company for $5.4 billion? 10
questions with Tech Datas Rich Hume
A private equity firm has agreed to buy Tech Data.
By Graham Brink
Published November 13, 2019
Rich Hume took over as CEO of Tech Data last year. He wasnt expecting to oversee the sale of the publicly traded IT distribution company less than
18 months later. But, he said Wednesday, when you get a good offer, you have to weigh it out.
In this case, $5.4 billion made a lot of sense for
Tech Datas shareholders, vendors, customers and colleagues, he said a few hours after announcing the deal with Apollo Growth Management, a massive New York private equity firm.
Hume, 60, who will stay on as CEO, said Apollo approached him earlier this year and talks heated up in the last month. His team has a lot of work to do before
the sale is finalized next year, but he didnt expect too many changes to the companys culture or its substantial footprint in Pinellas County.
Here are excerpts from his interview with the Tampa Bay Times, edited for length and clarity:
What do you think Apollos leadership team saw in Tech Data that led them to want to spend $5.4 billion?
I say this humbly, but I believe that Apollo recognized that we are the premier and leading IT distribution firm within the industry. They see a team at Tech
Data that is second to none. So its our colleagues, our capabilities and our track record of success that I believe they found attractive.
Did
you have any reservations about the sale? Did you ever wake up in the middle of the night and say, We cant do this!?
I have no
reservations. I do wake up in the middle of the night to make sure that any opportunity makes sense for all of our shareholders, our colleagues, our vendors and our customers. I can confidently tell you that there is a positive impact for all of
them for this proposed deal.
Why do you think that?
Apollo has over $320 billion in assets under management today. They are wide and they are broad. I think that the broadness of their portfolio, as well as
their experience within tech, is quite appealing. They have the opportunity to make investments to allow us to prosper moving forward.