Cornerstone OnDemand to Acquire Cloud Provider Sonar6

Cornerstone expects that the acquisition will accelerate the company’s momentum in the small business market.

Santa Monica, Calif. — March 8

Cornerstone OnDemand, a provider in cloud-based talent management services, announced that the company has entered into an agreement to acquire privately held Sonar Ltd. Based in Auckland, New Zealand, Sonar6 is a provider of cloud-based talent management services serving small businesses globally.

Cornerstone expects that the acquisition will accelerate the company’s momentum in the small business market.

Following the acquisition, Sonar6 will be rebranded as a Cornerstone service specifically for small businesses. The companies will not integrate their products, and Sonar6 solutions will remain separate to preserve Cornerstone’s 100 percent organically developed service for enterprise and mid-market clients.

Sonar6 will bring more than 375 global clients to Cornerstone. Cornerstone will continue to operate Sonar6 in Auckland, and Sonar6 employees are expected to remain in their current roles after the transaction closes. Sonar6 CEO and co-founder Michael Carden will be appointed as Cornerstone’s vice president of small business operations. In addition, co-founder Mark Hellier will continue his role as head of products for small business operations.

Like Cornerstone, Sonar6 offers an organic, cloud-based service. Sonar6’s graphical approach to talent management has won numerous accolades, including Gartner’s “Cool Vendors” and HR Executive magazine’s list of “Top Ten HR Products.”

Under the terms of the share purchase agreement and subject to certain purchase price adjustments, Cornerstone will pay approximately $13 million in cash and $1 million in equity for Sonar6 and enter into employment agreements with certain employees. Cornerstone does not expect that this transaction will have a material impact on its non-GAAP financial metrics in 2012. Cornerstone management plans to discuss additional details regarding this transaction on the company’s first quarter 2012 earnings conference call.

Cornerstone expects to complete the transaction within 45 days, subject to certain closing conditions.

Source: Cornerstone OnDemand