Goliath devours David? Personal finance giant Intuit snagged Mint.com, an online start-up that offers free financial advice and easy-to-use budget planning tools, for $170 million on Monday, Sept. 14.Intuit, maker of financial software applications Quicken and TurboTax, hopes the move will tap into the growing online market--spearheaded by sites like Mint, Wesabe and SmartyPig--and ultimately leverage its presence to Web-savvy consumers disenfranchised by Intuit's classic PC offerings.
The purchase comes a year after Intuit's legal department sent a nasty letter demanding that Mint.com explain its meteoric growth since launching in September 2007.
In the wake of the initial cat-and-mouse game, Goliath has more than made up with David. In fact, the $3 billion-a-year software giant shelled out $170 million to acquire the online upstart, eliminating one of its tougher competitors.
“We were much better served by having Mint and its leadership as part of Intuit instead of trying to build it separately,” says Dan Maurer, senior vice president of Intuit’s consumer group here.
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