Thoma Bravo agreed to buy Sophos in a recommended cash offer announced on 14 October 2019, offering $7.40 for each share. The deal closed on 2 March 2020. The often-reported $3.8 billion purchase price and the approximately $3.9 billion figure in official announcements refer to different valuation measures, not a documented price increase.
How much did Thoma Bravo pay for Sophos?
The headline $3.8 billion figure is commonly used for the equity purchase price. In its 14 October 2019 offer announcement, Thoma Bravo specified a recommended cash offer of $7.40 per share and described the transaction as having an enterprise value of approximately $3.9 billion. Sophos’s 2 March 2020 completion announcement likewise described the cash transaction as valuing the business at approximately $3.9 billion. Thoma Bravo’s offer announcement and Sophos’s completion release use those respective contexts.
Equity value and enterprise value are distinct measures. Equity value reflects the price paid for shares; enterprise value is a broader measure of a business’s value. The two reported amounts should therefore not be treated as competing statements of the same figure or as evidence that the price changed between announcement and closing.
What happened, and when?
- 14 October 2019: Thoma Bravo announced it had reached agreement with Sophos’s board on a recommended cash offer for all issued and to-be-issued shares at $7.40 per share. The London Stock Exchange regulatory announcement described funding through Thoma Bravo fund equity and debt arranged under an interim facilities agreement. The LSE announcement provides the regulatory details.
- 2 March 2020: Sophos announced that the transaction had completed as a cash deal valued at approximately $3.9 billion. Sophos’s completion announcement confirms the closing date.
What Sophos did at the time of the acquisition
When the deal closed, Sophos described a cybersecurity portfolio managed through Sophos Central, spanning endpoint and server, network, mobile, email, and cloud security. It also highlighted managed threat response, a service it said provided a 24/7 security team for threat hunting, detection, and response. These descriptions come from the company’s March 2020 completion release.
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- XGS 88 (Hardware Only) - Next-generation firewall appliance only; add a Sophos subscription to enable IPS, web security, VPN, and advanced threat defense.
- Equipped with 4 x 2.5 GE copper ports, supporting up to 9.9 Gbps firewall performance for small offices and branch deployments.
- Purpose built next generation firewall hardware engineered for high performance, visibility, and reliable operation in business networks.
- SD-WAN optimization provides resilient connectivity and intelligent traffic routing across multiple WAN connections.
- VPN ready architecture supports secure site to site networking and encrypted remote employee access.
Sophos reported at completion that it had more than 53,000 reseller and managed service provider partners, protected more than 420,000 organizations, and served 100 million users. Those were company-reported figures in March 2020, not current counts. The company also said at the time that its next-generation portfolio represented more than 60% of billings and had grown 44% year over year; these, too, are historical company claims rather than independent market statistics. Sophos’s release and its post-acquisition blog post provide the company’s statements.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Later developments are separate from the 2019 buyout
Thoma Bravo’s current portfolio page lists Sophos among its cybersecurity businesses and describes offerings including endpoint, network, email, and cloud security, managed detection and response, and distribution through resellers, MSPs, and MSSPs. That is present-day portfolio context, distinct from the terms of the 2019 acquisition. Thoma Bravo’s Sophos portfolio page describes the business.
Rank #2
- XGS 118 (Hardware Only) - Next-generation firewall appliance only; add a Sophos subscription to enable IPS, web security, VPN, and advanced threat defense.
- 9 x 2.5 GE copper ports and 1 SFP fiber port, delivering up to 15.5 Gbps firewall performance for mid sized organizations.
- Purpose built next generation firewall hardware engineered for high performance, visibility, and reliable operation in business networks.
- SD-WAN optimization provides resilient connectivity and intelligent traffic routing across multiple WAN connections.
- VPN ready architecture supports secure site to site networking and encrypted remote employee access.
In 2024, Thoma Bravo announced that Sophos would acquire Secureworks. That announcement was a later corporate development, not part of the 2019 take-private; the available announcement does not establish the current integration status. Thoma Bravo’s 2024 announcement covers that separate transaction.
Quick Recap
Best Value
- XGS 128 (Hardware Only) - Next-generation firewall appliance only; add a Sophos subscription to enable IPS, web security, VPN, and advanced threat defense.
- 9 x 2.5 GE copper ports and 1 SFP fiber port, providing up to 19.1 Gbps firewall throughput for larger offices.
- Purpose built next generation firewall hardware engineered for high performance, visibility, and reliable operation in business networks.
- SD-WAN optimization provides resilient connectivity and intelligent traffic routing across multiple WAN connections.
- VPN ready architecture supports secure site to site networking and encrypted remote employee access.
Rank #4
- XGS 118 with 3 Years Standard Protection - Next-generation firewall appliance with Standard Protection subscription providing firewall, VPN, intrusion prevention, web security, and application control, managed through Sophos Central for unified policies and reporting.
- 9 x 2.5 GE copper ports and 1 SFP fiber port, delivering up to 15.5 Gbps firewall performance for mid sized organizations.
- Protects users from ransomware, malware, phishing, and intrusion attempts before they reach endpoints or applications.
- SD-WAN features deliver reliable, optimized application performance and intelligent multi link failover.
- Includes Standard Protection – Comprehensive security package with firewall, intrusion prevention, VPN, web security, and application control to defend against everyday threats and keep business operations safe.
Rank #3
- Network administrators' main fears are that SSL inspection will have a performance impact or cause something to break, impacting the user experience. Sophos Firewall removes the blind spots caused by encrypted traffic by allowing you to use SSL inspection while maintaining performance efficiency.
- TLS 1.3 Decryption: Remove an enormous blind spot with intelligent TLS inspection that’s fast and effective, supporting the latest standards with extensive exceptions and point-and-click policy tools to make your job easy.
- Deep Packet Inspection: Stop the latest ransomware and breaches with high-performance streaming deep packet inspection, including next-gen IPS, web protection, and app control, as well as deep learning and sandboxing powered by SophosLabs Intelix.
- Sophos Firewall and the XGS Series appliances with dedicated Xstream Flow Processors enable the ultimate in application acceleration, high-performance TLS inspection, and powerful threat protection
- Specifications: Firewall throughput: 35,000 Mbps| Firewall IMIX: 20,000 Mbps | Firewall Latency (64 byte UDP): 4 µs | IPS throughput: 7,000 Mbps | Threat Protection throughput: 1,400 Mbps
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
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