• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, 2 hours ago

The email vendor community received some revealing corporate news on Tuesday: Intuit Inc., in releasing its Q4 financials, said it is now managing Mailchimp, the email and text engagement firm, as a separate operating segment. This started on Aug. 1. 

Mailchimp will become “a separate reportable segment” in fiscal 2027, the company added. 

Intuit expects Mailchimp to generate $1,266 billion of revenue in 2027, essentially flat with the $1,256 billion reported for 20226. 

Does that mean Intuit has decided it purchased a turkey when it acquired the chimpanzee for $12 billion in 2021?

Here’s some of the background.

In May of this year, Intuit announced it was laying off 17% of its workforce. It did not specify which units were affected, but CEO Sasan Goodarzi said, “We are optimizing our business and reducing investments in certain areas, including Mailchimp,  and streamlining parts of our engineering and product organizations to better align resources with our 3 Big Bets,” in an email to staff. 

That seems clear. But perhaps Mailchimp’s standing within Intuit can be inferred from these Q4 financial details:

Global Business Solutions revenue rose by 16% to $12.9 billion. “Excluding Mailchimp, Global Business Solutions revenue increased 18 percent,” the company states. 

Similarly, Online Ecosystem revenue increased 19% to $9.9 billion. excluding Mailchimp.

And, the 16% hike in Online Services revenue was 24% excluding Mailchimp. 

In an investor call, Intuit attributed projected slower growth to weaker sales at Mailchimp and lower average revenue for TurboTax, following the reduction of prices due to customers fleeing after an increase, Yahoo/Finance reports. 

Overall, the company reported a 14% increase in total revenue to $21.4 billion (not including Mailchimp). Consumer revenue jumped by 11% to $8..6 billion.

In addition, Intuit grew its GAAP operating income by 20% to $5.9 billion and its non-GAAP operating income by 18% to $8.9 billion. 

Mailchimp may well go out on its own again, or be sold to another acquirer. Either way, we trust the iconic brand will regain some of the startup verve that attracted Intuit.