Acquisition · Supply-chain software
Panasonic buys the rest of Blue Yonder for $5.6 billion
- Buyer
- Panasonic (Osaka)
- Target
- Blue Yonder (remaining 80%), Scottsdale, Arizona
- Value
- $5.6B for 80% ($7.1B including debt repayment)
- Status
- Completed on September 17, 2021.
- Date
- 2021-04-23
Panasonic agreed to buy the 80% of Blue Yonder it did not already own from New Mountain Capital and Blackstone for $5.6 billion. Including the repayment of Blue Yonder's debt, the cost was about $7.1 billion, and the deal valued the whole company at $8.5 billion. Blue Yonder makes software that helps retailers, manufacturers and logistics firms plan inventory and deliveries.
Why it matters
Panasonic's largest deal in years, meant to move it from selling hardware toward software and services. The deal valued Blue Yonder at $8.5 billion, up from $5.5 billion when Panasonic bought its first 20% a year earlier.
The deal
On April 23, 2021, Panasonic agreed to buy the remaining 80% of Blue Yonder from private equity firms New Mountain Capital and Blackstone for $5.6 billion. Panasonic also paid off Blue Yonder's debt, bringing the total cost to about $7.1 billion. The deal valued Blue Yonder at $8.5 billion. It closed on September 17, 2021 after regulatory approvals.
About Blue Yonder
Blue Yonder, formerly called JDA Software, is based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Its software forecasts demand and plans how much stock to hold, where to store it and how to move it. Its customers include large retailers, consumer goods makers and logistics companies. It was moving its products to the cloud and adding artificial intelligence.
Why Panasonic did it
Panasonic had first bought 20% of Blue Yonder in 2020 for about $800 million, when the company was valued at $5.5 billion. It wanted to combine Blue Yonder's planning software with its own cameras, sensors and warehouse equipment, so that customers could see what is happening on shop floors and in warehouses in real time and act on it. The deal was the centerpiece of Panasonic's push into business software, which earns higher margins than consumer electronics.
What to watch
Investors questioned the high price, and Panasonic later had to show that Blue Yonder could grow profits. Blue Yonder kept buying companies of its own, and in 2024 it suffered a ransomware attack that disrupted some retail customers.
Sources
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