Rich Mullen

Rich Mullen

Partner

Mergers & Acquisitions

Expert in M&A and Strategic Transactions

Rich is a strategic advisor who counsels boards of directors and management teams on their most challenging issues. He has significant experience with M&A and corporate governance matters, particularly in the technology and life sciences industries, having structured and negotiated hundreds of strategic transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, tender and exchange offers, asset acquisitions, divestitures and business carve-outs, equity investments, and joint ventures and other strategic partnerships.
Trusted Advisor to Leading Companies

Rich regularly leads M&A and other strategic transactions for industry-leading companies, such as LinkedIn, Roblox, RingCentral, Lumentum, MaxLinear, and Zendesk.
Experienced Dealmaker

Rich’s transactional experience includes completed M&A and other strategic transactions valued at over $85 billion in the aggregate.

Rich Mullen is a partner in the San Francisco office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Rich advises public and private companies, and their boards of directors and management teams, in a wide range of strategic transactions and corporate governance matters, including mergers and acquisitions, tender and exchange offers, asset acquisitions, divestitures and business carve-outs, equity investments, and joint ventures and other strategic partnerships. Rich primarily represents clients in the technology and life sciences industries, but has represented clients in various sectors, including telecommunications, healthcare, financial services, aviation, automotive, security, and manufacturing.

Rich is the hiring partner for Wilson Sonsini’s M&A group and serves on the firm’s hiring committee.

From 2009 to 2010, Rich served as a law clerk to the Honorable Richard M. Berman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Experience

Rich is the hiring partner for Wilson Sonsini’s M&A group and serves on the firm’s hiring committee.

From 2009 to 2010, Rich served as a law clerk to the Honorable Richard M. Berman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Education

J.D., University of Michigan Law SchoolCum Laude; Contributing Editor and Member of the Article Selection Committee, Michigan Journal of Race & Law; Treasurer and Member, Native American Law Student Association; Member, Business Law Association
B.S., Business Management—Finance, Case Western Reserve UniversitySumma Cum Laude; Team Captain and Member, Varsity Basketball; Member, Varsity Baseball

Admissions

State Bar of California
State Bar of New York

Credentials

Education

J.D., University of Michigan Law SchoolCum Laude; Contributing Editor and Member of the Article Selection Committee, Michigan Journal of Race & Law; Treasurer and Member, Native American Law Student Association; Member, Business Law Association
B.S., Business Management—Finance, Case Western Reserve UniversitySumma Cum Laude; Team Captain and Member, Varsity Basketball; Member, Varsity Baseball

Admissions

State Bar of California
State Bar of New York

Select Transactions

Buy-Side Transactions

Chronosphere, Inc. in its acquisition of Calyptia Inc.
Danaher Corporation in its acquisition of Stocastic, LLC
Dolby Laboratories, Inc. in various transactions, including:
- its acquisition of substantially all assets of Hybrik, Inc.
- its acquisition of Voxeet, Inc.
DoorDash, Inc. in various transactions, including:
- its acquisition of Chowbotics, Inc.
DroneDeploy, Inc. in its acquisition of StructionSite, Inc.
Elastic N.V. in its $234 million acquisition of Endgame, Inc.
EnLiven Therapeutics, Inc. in its reverse merger transaction with Imara Inc.
F5 Networks, Inc. in its $670 million acquisition of Nginx, Inc.
GoDaddy, Inc. in various transactions, including:
- its acquisition of Brandsight, Inc.
- its $175 million acquisition of Main Street Hub, Inc.
- its acquisition of the domain name portfolio and registrar and other businesses from Uniregistry, Corp.
LinkedIn Corporation in various transactions, including:
- its acquisition of Drawbridge, Inc.
- its acquisition of EduBrite Systems, Inc.
- its acquisition of Glint Inc.
- its acquisition of Oribi, Inc.
Lumentum Holdings, Inc. in various transactions, including:
- its $750 million acquisition of Cloud Light Technology Limited
- its $5.7 billion acquisition of Coherent, Inc. (transaction terminated following numerous topping bids from II-VI, Inc. and MKS Instruments, Inc. and payment of termination fee)
- its acquisition of IPG Photonics Corporation’s telecom transmissions product lines
- its $918 million acquisition of Neophotonics Corporation
Lunar Energy, Inc. in its acquisition of Moixa Energy Holdings Ltd.
MaxLinear, Inc. in various transactions, including:
- its $3.8 billion acquisition of Silicon Motion Technology Corporation
Pluralsight, Inc. in its $170 million acquisition of GitPrime, Inc.
RingCentral, Inc. in various transactions, including:
- its purchase of patents and other intellectual property rights with respect to “Circuit” from Atos S.E. and its affiliates
- its acquisition of Connect First, Inc.
- its $650 million acquisition of certain intellectual property rights and patents from Mitel Networks
Roblox Corporation in various transactions, including:
- its acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Bash Video, Inc.
- its acquisition of Ceebr Limited (d/b/a Code Kingdoms)
- its acquisition of Guilded, Inc.
- its acquisition of Hamul Inc.
- its acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Humen, Inc.
- its acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Imbellus, Inc.
- in its acquisition of Jido Inc.
- its acquisition of Loom.ai, Inc.
- its acquisition of Speechly, Inc.
Transcarent, Inc. in various transactions, including:
- its acquisition of BridgeHealth Medical, Inc.
- its acquisition of 98point6, Inc.’s AI-powered virtual care platform business and managed care business and related transactions, including its convertible note investment into 98point6’s new technology subsidiary
Twitter Inc. in various transactions, including:
- its acquisition of Smyte Inc.
- its acquisition of Yes, Inc.
Uplift Health Technologies, Inc. in its acquisition of TAO Connect, Inc.
Upstart Holdings, Inc. in various transactions, including:
- its $100 million acquisition of Prodigy Software, Inc.
Urgently Inc. in its acquisition of Otonomo Technologies Ltd.
Zendesk, Inc. in its acquisition of Tymeshift, Inc.

Sell-Side Transactions

Aerohive Networks, Inc. in its $286 million sale to Extreme Networks, Inc.
CA, Inc. in its $19 billion sale to Broadcom Inc.
Embark Technology, Inc. in its sale to Applied Intuition, Inc. (2023)
FieldWireLabs, Inc. in its $305 million sale to Hilti of America Inc.
Find Your Crush LLC in its sale to Discord Inc.
Gainsight, Inc. in its sale to Vista Equity Partners
GTreasury, a portfolio company of Mainsail Partners, in its majority investment from Hg (2023)
Icontrol Networks in its sale of its Connect and Piper businesses to Alarm.com and its subsequent and related merger transaction resulting in the sale of its Converge business to Comcast Corp.
Inspire Energy Capital LLC in its sale to Shell New Energies US LLC
Jive Software, Inc. in its $480 million sale to ESW Capital, LLC
Limelight Health, Inc. in its $90 million sale to FINEOS Corporation Holdings, plc
LinkedIn Corporation in its sale of the SlideShare business to Scribd Inc.
Obviously Social, LLC in its sale to WPP plc
Plaid Inc. in its $5.3 billion sale to Visa Inc. (transaction terminated by mutual agreement of the parties)
Raxium, Inc. in its sale to Google LLC
Relign Corp. in its sale to Zimmer Biomet
Spear Power Systems, Inc. in its sale to Sensata Technologies, Inc.
Text IQ, Inc. in its sale to Relativity ODA LLC
Texts in its sale to Automattic Inc.
The Special Committee of Telenav, Inc. in Telenav’s $241 million management take-private transaction with V99, Inc., which is led by Telenav’s co-founder, president, and chief executive officer
Thorne HealthTech, Inc. in its $680 million sale to L Catterton
TruValue Labs, Inc. in its sale to FactSet Research Systems Inc.
Twitter, Inc. in its sale of the Fabric developer platform to Google, Inc.
WeddingWire, Inc. in its $450 million sale to Permira Holdings Limited

Other Matters

Box, Inc. in its in its proxy contest victory over Starboard
Box, Inc. in its $500 million preferred stock investment led by KKR
RingCentral, Inc. in various matters, including:
- its strategic partnership with Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise
- its strategic partnership with Atos S.E., including RingCentral’s purchase of patents and other intellectual property rights with respect to “Circuit”
- its strategic partnership with Avaya Holdings Corp., including RingCentral’s purchase of $125 million of Avaya’s convertible preferred stock
- its strategic partnership with Mitel Networks
- its $200 million preferred stock investment by Searchlight Capital
- its strategic partnership with Vodafone Business

Matters

Select Transactions

Buy-Side Transactions

Chronosphere, Inc. in its acquisition of Calyptia Inc.
Danaher Corporation in its acquisition of Stocastic, LLC
Dolby Laboratories, Inc. in various transactions, including:
- its acquisition of substantially all assets of Hybrik, Inc.
- its acquisition of Voxeet, Inc.
DoorDash, Inc. in various transactions, including:
- its acquisition of Chowbotics, Inc.
DroneDeploy, Inc. in its acquisition of StructionSite, Inc.
Elastic N.V. in its $234 million acquisition of Endgame, Inc.
EnLiven Therapeutics, Inc. in its reverse merger transaction with Imara Inc.
F5 Networks, Inc. in its $670 million acquisition of Nginx, Inc.
GoDaddy, Inc. in various transactions, including:
- its acquisition of Brandsight, Inc.
- its $175 million acquisition of Main Street Hub, Inc.
- its acquisition of the domain name portfolio and registrar and other businesses from Uniregistry, Corp.
LinkedIn Corporation in various transactions, including:
- its acquisition of Drawbridge, Inc.
- its acquisition of EduBrite Systems, Inc.
- its acquisition of Glint Inc.
- its acquisition of Oribi, Inc.
Lumentum Holdings, Inc. in various transactions, including:
- its $750 million acquisition of Cloud Light Technology Limited
- its $5.7 billion acquisition of Coherent, Inc. (transaction terminated following numerous topping bids from II-VI, Inc. and MKS Instruments, Inc. and payment of termination fee)
- its acquisition of IPG Photonics Corporation’s telecom transmissions product lines
- its $918 million acquisition of Neophotonics Corporation
Lunar Energy, Inc. in its acquisition of Moixa Energy Holdings Ltd.
MaxLinear, Inc. in various transactions, including:
- its $3.8 billion acquisition of Silicon Motion Technology Corporation
Pluralsight, Inc. in its $170 million acquisition of GitPrime, Inc.
RingCentral, Inc. in various transactions, including:
- its purchase of patents and other intellectual property rights with respect to “Circuit” from Atos S.E. and its affiliates
- its acquisition of Connect First, Inc.
- its $650 million acquisition of certain intellectual property rights and patents from Mitel Networks
Roblox Corporation in various transactions, including:
- its acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Bash Video, Inc.
- its acquisition of Ceebr Limited (d/b/a Code Kingdoms)
- its acquisition of Guilded, Inc.
- its acquisition of Hamul Inc.
- its acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Humen, Inc.
- its acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Imbellus, Inc.
- in its acquisition of Jido Inc.
- its acquisition of Loom.ai, Inc.
- its acquisition of Speechly, Inc.
Transcarent, Inc. in various transactions, including:
- its acquisition of BridgeHealth Medical, Inc.
- its acquisition of 98point6, Inc.’s AI-powered virtual care platform business and managed care business and related transactions, including its convertible note investment into 98point6’s new technology subsidiary
Twitter Inc. in various transactions, including:
- its acquisition of Smyte Inc.
- its acquisition of Yes, Inc.
Uplift Health Technologies, Inc. in its acquisition of TAO Connect, Inc.
Upstart Holdings, Inc. in various transactions, including:
- its $100 million acquisition of Prodigy Software, Inc.
Urgently Inc. in its acquisition of Otonomo Technologies Ltd.
Zendesk, Inc. in its acquisition of Tymeshift, Inc.

Sell-Side Transactions

Aerohive Networks, Inc. in its $286 million sale to Extreme Networks, Inc.
CA, Inc. in its $19 billion sale to Broadcom Inc.
Embark Technology, Inc. in its sale to Applied Intuition, Inc. (2023)
FieldWireLabs, Inc. in its $305 million sale to Hilti of America Inc.
Find Your Crush LLC in its sale to Discord Inc.
Gainsight, Inc. in its sale to Vista Equity Partners
GTreasury, a portfolio company of Mainsail Partners, in its majority investment from Hg (2023)
Icontrol Networks in its sale of its Connect and Piper businesses to Alarm.com and its subsequent and related merger transaction resulting in the sale of its Converge business to Comcast Corp.
Inspire Energy Capital LLC in its sale to Shell New Energies US LLC
Jive Software, Inc. in its $480 million sale to ESW Capital, LLC
Limelight Health, Inc. in its $90 million sale to FINEOS Corporation Holdings, plc
LinkedIn Corporation in its sale of the SlideShare business to Scribd Inc.
Obviously Social, LLC in its sale to WPP plc
Plaid Inc. in its $5.3 billion sale to Visa Inc. (transaction terminated by mutual agreement of the parties)
Raxium, Inc. in its sale to Google LLC
Relign Corp. in its sale to Zimmer Biomet
Spear Power Systems, Inc. in its sale to Sensata Technologies, Inc.
Text IQ, Inc. in its sale to Relativity ODA LLC
Texts in its sale to Automattic Inc.
The Special Committee of Telenav, Inc. in Telenav’s $241 million management take-private transaction with V99, Inc., which is led by Telenav’s co-founder, president, and chief executive officer
Thorne HealthTech, Inc. in its $680 million sale to L Catterton
TruValue Labs, Inc. in its sale to FactSet Research Systems Inc.
Twitter, Inc. in its sale of the Fabric developer platform to Google, Inc.
WeddingWire, Inc. in its $450 million sale to Permira Holdings Limited

Other Matters

Box, Inc. in its in its proxy contest victory over Starboard
Box, Inc. in its $500 million preferred stock investment led by KKR
RingCentral, Inc. in various matters, including:
- its strategic partnership with Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise
- its strategic partnership with Atos S.E., including RingCentral’s purchase of patents and other intellectual property rights with respect to “Circuit”
- its strategic partnership with Avaya Holdings Corp., including RingCentral’s purchase of $125 million of Avaya’s convertible preferred stock
- its strategic partnership with Mitel Networks
- its $200 million preferred stock investment by Searchlight Capital
- its strategic partnership with Vodafone Business

Select Speaking Engagements

Speaker, “Navigating a Merger or Acquisition: From Beginning to End,” TechGC’s 2023 DeputyGC Offsite, October 12, 2023
Speaker, "The Ultimate Guide to Mergers & Acquisition for Startups," Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center M&A Bootcamp, October, 29, 2020
"Serial M&A in the Current Environment," Webcast, July 30, 2020

Insights

Select Speaking Engagements

Speaker, “Navigating a Merger or Acquisition: From Beginning to End,” TechGC’s 2023 DeputyGC Offsite, October 12, 2023
Speaker, "The Ultimate Guide to Mergers & Acquisition for Startups," Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center M&A Bootcamp, October, 29, 2020
"Serial M&A in the Current Environment," Webcast, July 30, 2020

Recent Insights

Client Highlights

On July 30, 2024, it was announced that Roblox acquired Bloxlink, which offers the most popular Roblox integration and management service for Discord. Following the transaction, Roblox and Bloxlink will continue to support Bloxlink’s innovative integration and management tool to supercharge users community with innovative Roblox integrations. Wilson Sonsini represented Roblox in the transaction.

Learn More

Client Highlights

On June 17, 2024, H.I.G. Growth Partners (H.I.G. Growth), the dedicated growth capital investment affiliate of H.I.G. Capital, announced the acquisition of Mobile Health Consumer, Inc. (Mobile Health), an end-to-end digital health, wellness, and virtual care SaaS platform. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati represented Mobile Health on the transaction.

Learn More

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Recent Events

Affiliated Programs

Wilson Sonsini will join the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center with KPMG, BMO, Microsoft Entrepreneurship for Positive Impact, Woodruff Sawyer, and The Aspen Institute for a virtual M&A Bootcamp. The event will provide an update on the current mergers and acquisitions environment, discuss best practices for positioning yourself for future M&A opportunities, and discuss winning strategies for successful transitions. Expert partners will share insights on recent negotiations and deals in the current climate.

Learn More

Affiliated Programs

Wilson Sonsini will join the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center with Bank of the West – BNP Paribas, KPMG, and Woodruff Sawyer for a virtual M&A Bootcamp. The event will provide an update on the current mergers and acquisitions environment, discuss best practices for positioning yourself for future M&A opportunities, and discuss winning strategies for successful transitions. Expert partners will share insights on recent negotiations and deals in the current climate.

Learn More