The DocuSign website is shown on a laptop in Dobbs Ferry, New York, April 1, 2021.
Tiffany Hagler Gerd | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Contract management platform DocuSign The company is committed to remaining a public company and is working to convince investors of its AI potential, CEO Alan Thygesen told CNBC, after reports indicated the company was the target of takeover interest from private equity providers.
“We're focused on building a great, independent public company,” Thygessen told CNBC in an interview earlier this week at a partner event the company held in London. “I'm joining DocuSign as a public company, and it's a very exciting time right now, so that's our plan.”
DocuSign, which offers a popular service that allows users to sign contracts digitally, has been rumored to have been traded by suitors Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman, according to reports from Reuters and Bloomberg earlier this year citing people familiar with the matter.
Reuters and Bloomberg both reported that private equity firms were vying to buy DocuSign for nearly $13 billion. According to a Reuters report in February, Bain Capital and Hellman & Freshman halted their pursuit of DocuSign due to disagreements over how much they should pay to acquire the company.
CNBC was unable to independently verify the reports.
Thygesen said he “can't comment on anything that may or may not have happened in the past,” when CNBC asked him if he could confirm rumors about a former PE buyer's interest in DocuSign.
Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman were not available for comment when contacted by CNBC.
Thygesen added that DocuSign is not ruling out the possibility of an M&A deal in the future, telling CNBC: “In the future, if something happens — of course, you can never close the door on a deal.”
However, he emphasized: “We're very focused on building a great independent company. We feel like we have a great opportunity, so that's what we're doing.”
In February, DocuSign announced business restructuring plans that included the decision to lay off 6% of its global workforce, with the bulk of the layoffs impacting sales and marketing positions.
The company said it expects to incur between $28 million to $32 million due to the restructuring plan, which consists primarily of cash expenses for employee relocation, notice period and severance payments, as well as non-cash expenses related to stock-based awards. .
At the time, DocuSign said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it was taking these restructuring actions “to achieve its aspirations for multi-year growth as an independent public company.”
AI will have a “profound” impact.
DocuSign has been trying to convince investors of an AI-driven business future, having made several high-profile technology-enabled product announcements this year as well as a deal to buy Lexion, an AI-based contract management product, for $165 million. cash Money.
In addition, Thygesen completely rebranded the company, changing its logo and updating the company brand.
He also announced a new focus for DocuSign's product called “Intelligent Agreement Management” or IAM. IAM is a more automated version of DocuSign's Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) process, which encompasses the contract's journey from pre-signing activities to post-signing management.
“I think we've mostly convinced investors that there are responsible adults, that they're ahead of the plan, that we've stabilized things, and now they want to see how we're going to handle these new things,” Thygesen said.
“So we'll go and do that, and if we do that, we have a very exciting opportunity for shareholders, customers, employees, everyone,” he added.
Thygesen said he expects AI to have a “very profound” impact “across industries, across functions, and across sizes.”
“I feel honored to be a part of that at a company that I think is particularly well positioned to benefit from that,” Thygesen said. But he added: “Even if I wasn't, I would be looking at where this would impact the business, regardless of the business I was running.”
