EarthLink, an IT security firm based in Little Rock, Ark., will establish its headquarters in Atlanta once more after a $330 million deal was approved with Trive Capital, a Dallas, Texas-based private equity firm.
EarthLink was acquired for $330 million in cash from Windstream Holdings Inc. The holdings company merged with EarthLink in 2016 in a $1.1 billion deal. The acquisition includes the assets of nQue Technologies LLC and EarthLink’s Midtown Atlanta office building, which will serve as the company's headquarters once more.
The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports that the company will retain its employees and hire for additional positions to accommodate the projected growth in Atlanta.
“In addition to bringing more jobs to Atlanta, we are significantly expanding our national footprint to provide high speed Internet connectivity to more of the country," Glenn Goad, co-founder of nQue and CEO of EarthLink, said in a news release. "We are also rolling out innovative products focused on privacy and security, to help protect consumers and deliver a trusted experience when browsing the Internet. Our goal is to provide the right technology at the right price, with a world class consumer experience.”
EarthLink is a provider of IP infrastructure and services to medium-sized and large businesses, enterprise customers and more than 1.5 million residential customers across the country, according to Crunchbase. The company originated in Pasadena, Calif., in 1994, and become one of the top dial-up providers after acquiring Atlanta-based MindSpring in 2000 for $3 billion. Following said acquisition, EarthLink moved the headquarters of the combined company to Atlanta, before being purchased by Windstream in 2016.
