Corporate parent of Durham’s Bronto Software is acquired by Oracle for $9.3 billion

NetSuite, the California software company that gained a local presence with last year’s $200 million acquisition of Bronto Software, is itself being acquired by Oracle for $9.3 billion.

The deal announced Thursday is being viewed as a way for Oracle to boost its cloud-based services. Oracle’s cloud division accounted for less than 10 percent of overall sales in its latest quarter.

Oracle agreed to pay $109 per share, which is a 19 percent premium over NetSuite’s closing price the day before the deal was announced. NetSuite helped pioneer delivering business software over the Internet.

Bronto, an email marketing company, has flourished under NetSuite’s ownership. Today the operation has more than 300 employees, up from more than 250 when it was acquired in June 2015.

Oracle declined to comment on what impact the acquisition will have on Bronto’s operations.

Joe Colopy and Chaz Felix, who co-founded Bronto in 2002, left the business earlier this year. Both said at the time that they were leaving the business, which operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of NetSuite, in good shape – so much so that the first quarter of this year was Bronto’s best quarter ever.

Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison also co-founded NetSuite and already owns, along with his family, about 45 percent of the company’s common stock. NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson is a former Oracle executive.

NetSuite generated $741 million in revenue last year. On Thursday, it reported that its second-quarter revenue totaled $230.8 Million, up 30 percent from a year ago.

Oracle already has a Triangle presence. It acquired Triangle telecom business Tekelec in 2013.

Bloomberg News contributed to this story.

This story was originally published July 29, 2016 at 12:29 PM with the headline "Corporate parent of Durham’s Bronto Software is acquired by Oracle for $9.3 billion."