Atlassian Acquires Trello, Popular Planning App, For $425 Million

Australian software company Atlassian agreed to buy the popular project management program Trello for $425 million, the companies announced Monday.

Trello, which launched five years ago, took the idea of sticky notes and turned it into a virtual tool for users who are planning projects--either work-related or on their next vacation. More than 19 million people use Trello, including Google, the UN, the Red Cross and UK government officials.

“You can expect Trello to become even more awesome and more fun than it is today,” the company said in a blog post about the acquisition. “We’re as committed to our original vision and brand as we were on launch day but we now have more firepower to fulfill that mission.”

Trello says it will continue operating as a standalone service and expects to integrate Atlassian’s collaboration softwares HipChat, Confluence and JIRA.

“Atlassian tools are built to help all teams organize, discuss and complete their work,” said Atlassian in a blog post. “By adding Trello to the Atlassian family, we’re giving teams more choice in the tools they use to support the way that they want to work.”

Atlassian says Trello will become an important part of the company’s portfolio. When acquired, Trello will be able to leverage investments in R&D that will improve the product, the companies say.

The purchase price of Trello is approximately $425 million and consists of $360 million in cash, with the remainder in restricted stock and options. The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of fiscal 2017.