Thoma Bravo Acquires Ellie Mae – 10% Staff Laid Off in Restructure

Ellie Mae laid off around 10 percent of its staff in a team restructure plan after being acquired in April by Thoma Bravo for an all cash $3.7 billion purchase.
Ellie Mae, Inc. is a cloud based software company that electronically processes 35% of all U.S. mortgage applications through its streamlined mortgage origination process. Ellie Mae provides services to every person in the mortgage origination process from the borrower, to the loan officer, to the lender, to the investor through its Encompass® Digital Lending Platform.

An American private equity and growth capital firm, Thoma Bravo manages over $30 billion in private equity commitments.  Its site states, “Within the software and technology industries, Thoma Bravo has helped build many of the world’s leading companies in applications, infrastructure and cybersecurity.  Today, our firm (Thoma Bravo)’s private equity software portfolio includes 35 companies that generate over $10 billion of annual revenues and employ over 33,500 colleagues around the world.”

Now, Thoma Bravo owns Ellie Mae, and has plans for it.

Ellie Mae released a statement regarding the lay off, “we completed a restructuring of our team so that we can ensure Ellie Mae will continue to grow and achieve our goal of automating the residential real estate finance industry.”  The goals of now privately held Ellie Mae, include maintaining its leadership position in the market while continuing to increase profitability.   Ellie Mae hopes severance packages will help ease the transition of the 10 percent of the team that have been cut loose as its processes are streamlined.

For borrowers seeking a mortgage, whether to buy a home or refinance their existing home, little is expected to change in the immediate future.  The portal your lender offers may still be through Ellie Mae and is hoped to make the lending experience even smoother as the mortgage loan origination process becomes ever more automated.

For Investors, the golden age of one of the most remarkable stock performances of any mortgage finance firm has ended.