NEW YORK – Blackstone said it has reached an agreement to acquire Ancestry in a deal worth $4.7 billion, the companies announced today. The New York-based multinational investment company will acquire Ancestry from current stakeholders Silver Lake, Spectrum Equity, Permira, and others.
Current Ancestry investor GIC will retain a minority stake in the company following the deal, the firms noted. They did not provide a timeline for when the transaction will be completed.
In addition to operating in more than 30 countries, having 3 million subscribers, and $1 billion in annual revenue, Ancestry has also built a market-leading consumer genomics business through its AncestryDNA service, which focused initially on ancestry and genealogy and more recently expanded into health. The company has to date genotyped 18 million people as part of the service.
Ancestry CEO Margo Georgiadis said the deal with Blackstone would "further accelerate Ancestry's global leadership in family history and consumer genomics." She added that the acquisition would enable the Lehi, Utah-based company to "expand our global family history business while bringing to life our long-term vision of personalized preventive health."
Ancestry's ownership last changed four years ago when Menlo Park, California-based Silver Lake and Singapore's GIC acquired substantial equity stakes, bringing the company's valuation to $2.6 billion. In 2012, London-based Permira took the then public company Ancestry.com private for $1.6 billion.