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Thoma Bravo, Instructure Push Forward with Buyout; CEO to Step Down

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 02/18/20

Instructure's CEO will be stepping down in a couple of weeks after the latest purchase agreement with Thoma Bravo is complete. A special shareholders meeting scheduled for Feb. 25, 2020 has been canceled. And the board of directors for the learning management system company has come up with a plan to get through the acquisition without shareholder approval.

Under the latest arrangement, Thoma Bravo will tender an offer by Feb. 24 to acquire all outstanding shares of Instructure common stock directly from shareholders. Late last week, the venture capital company raised its previous offer of $47.60 per share to $49 per share.

"The board unanimously supports this structure as the clearest path to maximize value for all Instructure stockholders," Josh Coates, Instructure executive chairman of the board of directors, said in a statement. "We encourage all stockholders to tender their shares in support of the transaction."

Dan Goldsmith, current Instructure CEO, will be leaving the company March 6. According to a press release, the company will form an office of the CEO with a group of senior executives to lead the business until a successor is named. The board said that it would hire an executive search firm to assist in finding a replacement. Goldsmith joined Instructure in June 2018, as president; he became CEO in January 2019.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

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