Paul Bay, the new chief executive of Ingram Micro, the Irvine-based tech distribution and cloud services giant, has wrapped up the company’s latest acquisition just over two weeks after the announcement of his appointment to the top spot.
Ingram Micro said Jan. 27 it had strengthened its cloud platform as the company’s CloudBlue unit acquired Dutch e-commerce software company Keenondots B.V. No financial details were released.
Ingram Micro has been looking to diversify into more profitable areas of work beyond tech distribution, with cloud-based services becoming an increasing area of focus.
“In a nutshell, Keenondots technology helps us continue to add features and functionality to our CloudBlue platform,” Ingram Micro Vice President Damon Wright said.
CloudBlue helps service providers build, scale and monetize cloud and digital services.
The Keenondots team, including CEO Coen Korver and founder and CTO Laurens van Alphen, have joined CloudBlue, according to Ingram Micro.
CEO Bay
Ingram Micro announced the appointment of Bay as CEO on Jan. 12 while predecessor Alain Monié has transitioned to the executive chairman role. Bay previously held the position of executive vice president and president at Ingram’s Global Technology Solutions unit, its largest source of revenue.
While the purchase of Keenondots is the first under Bay’s watch, “the process began prior to his new position,” Wright told the Business Journal.
“The acquisition of Keenondots is a continuation of our strategic objective to continue to invest into the business, particularly into areas such as our CloudBlue platform that provide higher value to our customers,” said Wright, the head of investor relations and corporate communications.
Ingram Micro had first-half net revenue in excess of $26 billion last year, potentially putting the company on track to exceed the 2020 sales of $49.1 billion.
Tom Gores’ private equity firm Platinum Equity of Los Angeles purchased Ingram Micro for $7.2 billion last year from China-based HNA Technology Co. and expects the Irvine-based company to grow even bigger.
‘Actively Encouraging’
The expansion emphasis was clear in the announcement of the Keennodots purchase.
“Our team at Platinum is actively encouraging Paul Bay and his executive team to continue their agenda of aggressive growth in key strategic areas and we support their efforts to add the technology needed to achieve it,” Platinum Equity top executives Jacob Kotzubei and Matthew Louie said in a joint statement.
They added: “We look forward to helping Ingram Micro pursue more opportunities to help the company achieve its strategic objectives even faster.”
Ingram Micro is one of the world’s largest wholesale distributors of technology products, software and cloud products while providing an array of related services and supply chain offerings.
The company says its “deep expertise” in technology solutions, mobility, cloud and supply chain let its business partners operate efficiently and successfully.
Ingram Micro in December said it will be able to focus on its core areas of technology distribution and cloud services as the result of an agreement to sell a part of its business to French shipping giant CMA CMG in a deal valued at $3 billion.
CMA CMG said Dec. 8 it plans to acquire most of Ingram Micro’s Commerce & Lifecycle Services business.
Ingram Micro employs 35,000 people worldwide, serving 250,000 customers and partnering with 2,000 vendors, according to the company’s website.
