OpenAI-Backed Thrive Holdings to Acquire ADT in $15.3B All-Cash Deal

ADT Inc. and Thrive Holdings announced a definitive agreement on October 29, 2026, under which Thrive Holdings will acquire the security and smart home provider in an all-cash transaction. ADT is valued at approximately $7.6 billion in equity value and $15.3 billion in enterprise value under the agreement.

ADT stockholders will receive $10.00 per share in cash when the transaction completes, and ADT’s Board of Directors unanimously approved the agreement. According to the companies, the per-share price is a 45.6% premium to ADT’s unaffected closing share price of $6.87 on October 27, 2026, and a 52.1% premium to the 30-day volume-weighted average share price through that date. Once the transaction closes, ADT will become a privately held company and its common stock will cease trading on the New York Stock Exchange; until then, ADT will continue to operate independently.

Financing and Go-Shop Terms

Funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management are the sole providers of financing commitments for the transaction, and the deal carries no financing condition. The companies expect the transaction to close in the first quarter of 2027, subject to customary closing conditions, approval by ADT’s stockholders, and receipt of U.S. antitrust approval.

The merger agreement includes a 30-day go-shop window running through 11:59 p.m. New York City time on November 28, 2026, during which ADT and its financial advisors may solicit acquisition proposals from third parties. Certain parties that submit proposals during the initial period may receive a 10-day extension, and ADT holds the right to terminate the merger agreement to accept a superior proposal, subject to the agreement’s terms and conditions.

ADT’s financial advisors are Citi and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, with Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP serving as legal counsel and Edelman Smithfield as strategic communications advisor. Evercore is the exclusive financial advisor to Thrive Holdings, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP is serving as its legal counsel.

Thrive Holdings’ Plans for ADT

Thrive Holdings is a permanent capital holding company that owns and operates businesses over a long-term horizon. More than 75 businesses across accounting, IT services and the built environment are currently part of it, including Current in accounting and Shield in IT services. Following the closing, ADT will form the foundation of Thrive Holdings’ smart home security business, the companies said, and Thrive Holdings’ engineering teams will work alongside ADT’s professionals to identify where technology can enhance its products and services.

In its own announcement, Thrive Holdings said ADT has earned customer trust over more than 150 years and that its nationwide installation and service network supports equipment in millions of homes. The firm said new technology could help cut false alarms, give monitoring teams more informative notifications, and spot equipment problems sooner so they are easier to resolve.

“ADT is pleased to enter into this transaction, which recognizes the value built by our more than 12,000 employees and delivers an attractive cash premium to our stockholders,” said Jim DeVries, ADT’s Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. Kareem Zaki, a partner at Thrive Holdings, said the firm plans to strengthen ADT’s technology and product capabilities and has the capital and patience to invest over decades.

The companies also said ADT’s data protection and privacy policies will stay in place unchanged, and that no new sharing of customer data will occur without customer permission. Thrive Holdings partner Anuj Mehndiratta said the firm is committed to high privacy and cybersecurity standards for protecting the information customers entrust to ADT.

OpenAI’s Ownership Stake in Thrive Holdings

OpenAI announced on December 1, 2025, that it had taken an ownership stake in Thrive Holdings as part of a partnership aimed at accelerating enterprise AI adoption. OpenAI said it would place research, product, and engineering teams inside Thrive Holdings’ companies to improve speed, accuracy, and cost efficiency while strengthening service quality, with an initial focus on accounting and IT services, which it described as high-volume, rules-driven, workflow-heavy functions. OpenAI said the work was intended to create a repeatable model that could expand across other industries.

“We are excited to extend our partnership with OpenAI to embed their frontier models, products, and services into sectors we believe have tremendous potential to benefit from technological innovation and adoption,” said Joshua Kushner, CEO and founder of Thrive Capital and Thrive Holdings, in that announcement. OpenAI Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap said the partnership was meant to show what is possible when frontier AI is deployed rapidly across entire organizations.

Scheduled Next Steps

ADT’s third quarter 2026 results will be issued on November 3, 2026, prior to market opening, with a summary shared on a 10 a.m. ET conference call; the company will not take questions on the call in light of the announced transaction. In connection with the proposed transaction, ADT intends to file relevant materials with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including a proxy statement in preliminary and definitive form.