Monday, April 4, 2011

Peopleclick Authoria buys Aquire

By Rodney H. Brown

Peopleclick Authoria has bought Texas firm Aquire Solutions Inc., a provider of workforce planning and analytics products, for an undisclosed amount. Aquire will stay in Texas and become a wholly owned operating subsidiary of Peopleclick Authoria Holdings Corp., officials said.

With headquarters in both Waltham and North Carolina, Peopleclick Authoria said it adds a strongly branded analytics solution to its own workforce and talent management software and services offerings by purchasing Aquire Solutions. Co-founder and CEO Lois Melbourne and co-founder and chief technology officer Ross Melbourne will continue to run Aquire in Irving, Texas. Peopleclick Authoria said in a news release that the size of the organization will not change following the close of the sale.
 
Aquire markets its flagship OrgPublisher product line. Customers include American Airlines, Barclays Bank PLC, Fiat, Braun Gillette, Shell Oil, Verizon and Mercedes-Benz, among others.
 
Peopleclick Authoria was created in January of 2010 when Authoria Inc. owner Bedford Funding paid $100 million to acquire Peopleclick Inc., a Raleigh, N.C.-based competitor, and merge the two human-resources software companies into a combined entity called Peopleclick Authoria. Authoria was founded in 1997 by Tod Loofbourrow, a Mass High Tech All-Star in 2000, who was CEO until November 2008. In October, Loofbourrow became president of a new senior health unit at iRobot Corp.

In April 2010, Peopleclick Authoria named Joseph Licata Jr. as president and CEO of the company; he served in the role only until November before leaving to pursue an "investment acquisition." Chairman Charles Jones, managing partner of Bedford Funding, held the CEO post before Licata and was reinstated as the CEO in November after Licata's departure.