cornerstone-ondemand

USA
medium
Tier 2 — PE-Backed v2 v2.0.0-br4
Sections
Deal Killer Strategic Positioning Negotiation Leverage Balance Sheet & Financials Integration Post-Mortem Competitive Moat Advertiser Cannibalization PE Clock / IPO Window Employee Retention (Post-Acquisition) Cultural Red Flags
$137.0M
TTM Revenue
TTM EBITDA
Market Cap
Synergy NPV

Asset A: Domain low

$15.0M – $20.0M
Valuation Range

Asset B: Media low

$9.0M – $45.0M
Valuation Range

Asset C: Platform low

Valuation Range

Deal Killer honest null

Corpus too thin to assert a primary deal-killer with confidence.

Strategic Positioning medium

opportunistic
M&A Appetite
3
Total Deals (Corpus)
1
Last 24 Months

Strategic gaps:

Positioning rationale:

  • pe_clock_urgency=high: approaching exit window
Signal audit trail (2 inputs)

Negotiation Leverage high

Top talking points:

  1. Buyer already spends on HR.com advertising — acquisition eliminates duplicate media spend
  2. HR.com ran a 2022 process with 8 offers — proven market demand establishes a competitive floor
  3. hr.com is one of <676 2-letter .com domains — category-defining, few substitutes, independent of media business performance

All leverage points:

Buyer already spends on HR.com advertising — acquisition eliminates duplicate media spend
5 overlapping advertisers: SAP SuccessFactors, ADP, G-P
→ advertiser_cannibalization
HR.com ran a 2022 process with 8 offers — proven market demand establishes a competitive floor
2022 offers ranged $9M-$45M
→ seller_facts
hr.com is one of <676 2-letter .com domains — category-defining, few substitutes, independent of media business performance
domain broker estimate: $15M+
→ seller_facts
PE sponsor approaching exit window — emerging pressure to show portfolio accretion
4 years into 5-year hold
→ pe_clock_ipo_window

Balance Sheet & Financials honest null

No public financials — this is a privately held buyer.

Integration Post-Mortem medium

3
Prior Acquisitions Found
None
Integration Pattern
LOW
Bandwidth Exhaustion Risk

Found 3 prior adjacent acquisition reference(s) for cornerstone-ondemand in the source corpus.

AcquisitionYearOutcome
cornerstone-ondemand acquisition (2021)2021none
ital-group-in-dollar52-billion-transaction/] Cornerstone OnDemand Enters Definitive Agreement to Be Acquired by Clearlake Capital Group in $5.2 Billion Transaction Skip to main content # Cornerstone OnDemand Enters Definitive Agreement to Be Acquired by Clearlake Capital Group in $5.2 Billion T
cornerstone-ondemand acquisition record www.cornerstoneondemand.com high
cornerstone-ondemand acquisition (2026)2026none
apital-group-in-usd5-2-billion-transaction/] Cornerstone OnDemand Enters Definitive Agreement to Be Acquired by Clearlake Capital Group in $5.2 Billion Transaction Skip to main content Cornerstone March 2026 release highlights – Adaptive learning accelerates growth Read Highlights > # Cornerston
cornerstone-ondemand acquisition record www.cornerstoneondemand.com high
cornerstone-ondemand acquisition (year unknown)none
reement-to-be-acquired-by-clearlake-capital] Cornerstone OnDemand Enters Definitive Agreement to Be Acquired by Clearlake Capital Group in $5.2 Billion Transaction | Nasdaq Skip to main content Cornerstone Stockholders to Receive $57.50 Per Share in Cash Vector Capital to Make Minority Investment
cornerstone-ondemand acquisition record www.nasdaq.com high
ital-group-in-dollar52-billion-transaction/] Cornerstone OnDemand Enters Definitive Agreement to Be Acquired by Clearlake Capital Group in $5.2 Billion Transaction Skip to main content # Cornerstone OnDemand Enters Definitive Agreement to Be Acquired by Clearlake Capital Group in $5.2 Billion T
cornerstone-ondemand acquisition record www.cornerstoneondemand.com high
apital-group-in-usd5-2-billion-transaction/] Cornerstone OnDemand Enters Definitive Agreement to Be Acquired by Clearlake Capital Group in $5.2 Billion Transaction Skip to main content Cornerstone March 2026 release highlights – Adaptive learning accelerates growth Read Highlights > # Cornerston
cornerstone-ondemand acquisition record www.cornerstoneondemand.com high
reement-to-be-acquired-by-clearlake-capital] Cornerstone OnDemand Enters Definitive Agreement to Be Acquired by Clearlake Capital Group in $5.2 Billion Transaction | Nasdaq Skip to main content Cornerstone Stockholders to Receive $57.50 Per Share in Cash Vector Capital to Make Minority Investment
cornerstone-ondemand acquisition record www.nasdaq.com high

Competitive Moat honest null

No competitive moat signals found in this buyer’s public corpus.

Advertiser Cannibalization high

HIGH
Cannibalization Risk
5
Overlapping Advertisers
Overlapping advertisers:
SAP SuccessFactors ADP G-P HRSoft ERIN

cornerstone-ondemand corpus mentions 5 known HR.com advertiser(s): SAP SuccessFactors, ADP, G-P, HRSoft, ERIN. An acquisition would mean the buyer is purchasing a media property where they (or their portfolio companies) actively advertise, creating cannibalization risk: post-close, those ad budgets would flow internally rather than generating third-party revenue for the combined entity.

71814336] Cornerstone OnDemand Profile 2026: Financials, AI Strategy & Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, Oracle Corporation, SAP Comparison # Cornerstone OnDemand Profile 2026: Revenue, Competitors & Strategy Last updat
SAP SuccessFactors mention in buyer source corpus dexteragent.ai high
| USA | | IBMIBM | C$94.03 B | 8,036.49% | USA | | Automatic Data ProcessingADP | C$29.53 B | 2,455.82% | USA | | Paycom PAYC | C$2.85 B | 147.18% | USA | | WorkdayWDAY | C$13.29 B | 1,050.79% | USA
ADP mention in buyer source corpus www.companiesmarketcap.com high
[source: https://searchhrsoftware.techtarget.com/news/252505165/In-52B-deal-Cornerstone-OnDemand-goes-private] In $5.2B deal, Cornerstone OnDemand go
HRSoft mention in buyer source corpus searchhrsoftware.techtarget.com high

PE Clock / IPO Window high

HIGH
Exit Urgency
Pe Owned
Status
Hold period: 4 / 5 years (80%)

Sponsors: Clearlake Capital Group

cornerstone-ondemand is PE-owned by Clearlake Capital Group. Entry date 2021-10-15; approximately 4 year(s) into hold. Typical hold for this fund type: 5 years. Fund is within one year of typical hold period — exit pressure is high. Projected exit window: 2026-2028.

ess-releases/cornerstone-ondemand-enters-definitive-agreement-to-be-acquired-by-clearlake-capital-group-in-dollar52-billion-transaction/] Cornerstone OnDemand Enters Definitive Agreement to Be Acquired by Clea
cornerstone-ondemand PE/IPO signal from source corpus www.cornerstoneondemand.com high
[source: https://www.unleash.ai/talent-management/private-equity-firm-clearlake-buys-cornerstone-for-5-2bn/] Private equity firm Clearlake buys Cornerstone for $5.2bn | UNLEASHSkip to content UNLEASH
cornerstone-ondemand PE/IPO signal from source corpus www.unleash.ai high
[source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cornerstone-ondemand-m-a-clearlake-ca-idUSKBN2F62MF/] Clearlake Capital to take Cornerstone OnDemand private for $3.8 billion | Reuters Skip to main cont
cornerstone-ondemand PE/IPO signal from source corpus www.reuters.com high

Employee Retention (Post-Acquisition) low

UNKNOWN
Retention Risk Assessment
Employees with 20-30 year tenure. Debbie wants them protected post-sale.
Debbie McGrath, 2026-03-23 meeting

Cultural Red Flags honest null

No cultural-risk signals found in this buyer’s public corpus.