Intuit buys Mailchimp for $12bn

A lot of money for an email list company.

the largest-ever acquisition of a privately-held bootstrapped company, as Mailchimp didn't take any outside funding since its 2001 founding. It's also a huge windfall for the founders of Mailchimp, which opted for profit-sharing instead of stock-based compensation for employees.

A fascinating pair-up. Mailchimp is an exemplar among startups: agile, focused, competitive, bootstrapped, driven by a novel product that still seems mercifully simple compared to the nerdly alternatives.

Intuit, on the other hand, is the ultimate sprawling corporate parasite, despised by every tricked taxpayer, an eyeless life-form lurking in the deepest depths of rent-seeking, regulatory capture and political lobbying.

So long, Mailchimp!