Pivotal Software
| Company type | Public (until acquisition) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software and services |
| Predecessor | EMC Corporation, VMware, Pivotal Labs LLC |
| Founded | 2012 |
| Fate | Acquired by VMware |
| Successor | VMware Tanzu Labs (consulting division) |
| Headquarters | San Francisco , United States |
Area served | Global |
Key people | Paul Maritz (former CEO and Chairman), Rob Mee (former CEO) |
| Products | Cloud platform hosting, consulting solutions, Pivotal HD, Greenplum Database, Cloud Foundry platform |
| Owner | Broadcom (as of November 2023) |
Pivotal Software, Inc. was a global software and services enterprise headquartered in San Francisco, specializing in cloud platform hosting alongside consulting solutions. As of November 2023, Pivotal operates under the ownership of Broadcom.
History
Established in 2012, Pivotal Software emerged as a spin-off from EMC Corporation and VMware, the latter being predominantly owned by EMC. Its name traces back to Pivotal Labs LLC, an EMC acquisition that was briefly renamed GoPivotal, Incorporated. On April 24, 2013, Pivotal revealed a $105 million capital infusion from General Electric, acquiring a 10% stake, alongside Pivotal One and the Cloud Foundry cloud computing platform.
Following the spin-off, Paul Maritz took on the role of CEO. Maritz had joined EMC in 2008 after EMC acquired Pi Corporation, which he co-founded, and he had previously served as VMware’s CEO. The foundation of Pivotal’s big data division was built upon the Pivotal Greenplum Database, which EMC had purchased in 2010.
In March 2013, Pivotal introduced Pivotal HD, a distribution of Apache Hadoop that incorporated Greenplum-based Hawq. On August 18, 2015, Rob Mee—founder of Pivotal Labs—succeeded Paul Maritz as CEO, with Maritz transitioning to Chairman. By May 2016, Pivotal secured $253 million in funding that included participation from Ford Motor Company, while EMC converted $400 million of debt into equity.
Pivotal submitted its paperwork for an initial public offering in March 2018 and officially listed on the New York Stock Exchange on April 20, 2018. The IPO generated $555 million with shares initially priced at $15 and closing with a 5% increase on opening day.
On August 14, 2019, VMware announced negotiations to merge with Pivotal and formalized an acquisition agreement on August 22. This transaction was finalized on December 30, 2019. Post-acquisition, VMware incorporated Pivotal into its Tanzu application portfolio; additionally, the Pivotal Labs consulting division was rebranded as VMware Tanzu Labs in January 2021.