Their other acquisitions and ebitda paid

The Mailchimp deal is actually a massive outlier in Intuit's history because Mailchimp was a highly profitable, mature cash cow at the time of the sale. Because it generated $300 million in EBITDA, analysts could actually calculate a clean 40x multiple.

For almost all of Intuit's other major acquisitions, EBITDA multiples were largely non-existent or astronomical because the companies were either barely breaking even, aggressively burning cash for growth, or pre-profit.

Intuit historically buys based on Revenue Multiples (Price-to-Sales) or strategic user acquisition, not traditional EBITDA valuations. Here is how the numbers looked for the rest of their portfolio:

1. Credit Karma ($7.1 Billion to $8.1 Billion)

When the deal closed in late 2020, Intuit's stock had risen so much that the final consideration was roughly $8.1 billion.

• The Financials: At the time, Credit Karma was generating nearly $1 billion in annual revenue, meaning Intuit paid roughly an 8x to 10x Revenue Multiple.
• The EBITDA Reality: Credit Karma was barely profitable. In Intuit's first forward guidance after closing the deal, they projected Credit Karma would generate $545 million to $580 million in revenue over an 8-month period, but only $15 million to $35 million in segment operating income.
• The Multiple: Because the operating income was so razor-thin, an EBITDA multiple is almost meaningless here (it would technically be in the hundreds). Intuit bought them for the 110 million active users and top-line revenue growth, not bottom-line cash flow.

2. TSheets ($340 Million)

When Intuit bought TSheets in late 2017, the time-tracking software was experiencing explosive growth but was not a profit engine.

• The Financials: Industry tracking indicates TSheets had recently crossed the $10 million to $15 million annual revenue threshold around the time of the deal.
• The Multiple: Intuit paid roughly a 20x to 30x Revenue Multiple. Like most mid-stage SaaS startups, TSheets was reinvesting every dollar back into growth and engineering. It did not have meaningful, positive EBITDA, so Intuit bought the technology purely to embed it into QuickBooks.

3. Mint.com ($170 Million)

In 2009, Mint was the darling of the fintech startup world, but it was functionally a pre-revenue acquisition.

• The Financials: Mint had raised over $31 million in venture capital and boasted 1.5 million highly engaged users. However, its "ways to save" engine (referring users to credit cards) was generating very little actual revenue at the time.
• The Multiple: There was no EBITDA or revenue multiple. Intuit paid $170 million simply to acquire the brilliant account-syncing technology (which was vastly superior to Quicken's) and to eliminate its biggest existential threat.

4. TradeGecko ($80 Million)

Acquired in 2020, TradeGecko was a Singapore-based inventory management startup that had raised about $17.7 million in venture capital.

• The Financials: It was a relatively small, cash-burning SaaS company looking for an exit.
• The Multiple: Again, with no positive EBITDA, Intuit bought the company for its engineering talent and code base, simply to rebrand it as "QuickBooks Commerce" (before eventually shutting the standalone product down entirely).

5. ChipSoft / TurboTax ($243 Million)

This 1993 acquisition is the most fascinating because it fundamentally changed the math of the company.

• The Financials: When Intuit (which only owned Quicken at the time) bought ChipSoft in a stock deal, it merged two companies of similar size. The acquisition caused Intuit's combined revenues to explode to roughly $200 million overnight.
• The Multiple: While exact EBITDA from 1993 is difficult to cleanly map to modern SaaS metrics, ChipSoft was highly successful. Intuit bought a foundational product line that would eventually generate billions in high-margin cash flow for decades.

The Takeaway

Wall Street is punishing Intuit over Mailchimp specifically because Mailchimp was supposed to be a cash machine from day one. Intuit paid a premium 40x EBITDA multiple for a mature business, promising it would accelerate. When Mailchimp's revenue dropped by 21% recently, that 40x multiple suddenly looked like a massive overpayment. In contrast, they bought companies like Credit Karma and Mint for their user bases, knowing the profits would have to be engineered years later.