[thorntonbf]

Intuit has squandered the Quicken brand for years with lousy updates and even worse customer support. In some respects it's good to see them sell it to someone who might do something with it.

Unfortunately, the Quicken name is now so tarnished that the private equity firm likely has one swing at a decent update. Anything less than a homerun and they might as well shut it down.

[shostack]

Since it is a private equity firm, what makes you think they are interested in doing anything other than gutting the business?

[L_Rahman]

I work at a PE-owned company (over 20 years in PE ownership now) and the strategy is to seek growth, not to cut costs by shedding headcount.

Caveats:

1. This is anecdotal evidence, and many PE firms actually do buy companies with the intention of firing people.

2. I don't know whether this is the most common activity or just generates the most press/attention. I would be pretty interested in a statistic that looks at PE company acquisitions and compares company headcount at entry and exit.

[Tempest1981]

Agreed -- it's a weird strategy. "Hey users, look how bad we let Quicken get... Now try our cloud products!"