Mailchimp will be purchased by Intuit for approximately $12 billion

Intuit Inc., the developer of TurboTax, has agreed to pay $12 billion for email marketing pioneer Mailchimp, in a move geared at profiting on the rise of small and midsize businesses. According to its website, Mailchimp was founded in 2001 and is currently owned by its founders, Ben Chestnut and Dan Kurzius. The company, which hasn't accepted any outside investment, started off as a web design firm that subsequently expanded to include an email marketing service. Other digital-ad services and customer-relationship-management technologies are now available. Mailchimp, which was already well-known among small businesses, shot to fame in 2014 when it was included in the first season of the hit podcast "Serial." 2.4 million monthly active users, including 800,000 paying clients, are presently served by the firm. Half of its clients are located outside of the United States. Last year, it brought in roughly $800 million in sales, up 20% from the previous year.