Thoma Bravo

A $5B Medallia investment was wiped out in 2026 just after Thoma Bravo’s 2025 run of major software buyouts, including $12.3B Dayforce.

Who they are

Thoma Bravo appears in the coverage as a private-equity buyer and owner of enterprise software businesses, spanning cybersecurity, HR, customer-experience, Java-platform and automation companies. Its role is typically that of acquirer, seller or portfolio owner: it bought Darktrace, Dayforce, Verint and a majority stake in Azul, while prior stories tracked sales of Barracuda and Adenza.

The recent arc

The latest coverage marks a sharp reversal in a portfolio story that had been dominated by acquisitions. In August 2025, Thoma Bravo agreed to buy HR software provider Dayforce for $12.3B and then acquired Verint for $1.23B; it later took a majority stake in Azul. It also bought Darktrace in 2024, after its earlier bid interest in the UK cybersecurity company had ended in 2022, and Darktrace subsequently outlined expanded US investment plans.

That dealmaking momentum has been overtaken by Medallia. Reuters reported in April 2026 that Thoma Bravo was preparing to hand the customer-experience company to creditors, and the Financial Times reported in June that a Blackstone-led consortium would take control, wiping out Thoma Bravo’s full $5B 2021 investment. Orlando Bravo’s January 2026 framing of AI-driven software-valuation fears as a buying opportunity places that loss alongside an explicitly contrarian acquisition posture.

The tension

Coverage centers on the tension between Thoma Bravo’s willingness to deploy capital into software assets amid depressed valuations and the leverage and execution risk embedded in owning them. Medallia is the clearest stress case, with creditors and a Blackstone-led consortium supplanting Thoma Bravo, while the firm continues to add assets such as Dayforce, Verint and Azul. The pattern is not simply retreat: it is selective expansion in software markets whose valuations are being questioned in part because of potential AI disruption.

Why it matters

If this trajectory holds, Thoma Bravo will be a useful test of whether private-equity ownership can translate lower software entry valuations into durable portfolio outcomes. The contrast between large recent purchases and the Medallia wipeout raises the stakes for performance across its newer holdings, particularly as enterprise-software buyers and investors reassess which products retain pricing power and strategic relevance in an AI-disrupted market.

Related: Medallia · Financial Times · UK-based Darktrace's stock falls 32.47% after US private equity firm T · KKR agrees to buy Barracuda, which helps companies manage and protect