Billionaire Robert Smith's firm sells software maker for $4.6 billion, doubling its initial investment

• Robert Smith's Vista Equity Partners said Monday that it plans to sell Apptio to IBM for $4.6 billion.
• The private equity firm doubled its initial investment, having bought the software maker for $1.9 billion in 2019.
• Vista has now made $18 billion cashing out on its bets since November 2021.

Billionaire investor Robert Smith's private equity firm has doubled its money after striking a deal this week to sell a software maker.

Vista Equity Partners said in a statement Monday that it had agreed to sell Apptio to IBM for $4.6 billion.

That's a return of 142% on the $1.9 billion that Vista spent acquiring the Bellevue, WA-based software company in 2019.

IBM said in a separate statement that it will use cash on hand to fund the deal, which it expects to complete in the second half of 2023.

Vista, which is known for buying out software companies, has made $18 billion cashing out its bets since November 2021, according to its statement released Monday.

The deal with IBM could also mark a personal win for Smith, who's battling to show his investors that the company has moved on from his admission of tax evasion.

The tech investor, who founded Vista in 2000, paid a $139 million fine to settle a four-year-long investigation into his personal taxes in 2020.

Smith passed Oprah Winfrey as the richest Black American in 2018 and is currently the world's 150th wealthiest person with a personal fortune of $12 billion, according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index.

He also gained widespread recognition in 2019 when he said in a commencement speech for a college in Georgia that he would pay off the entire graduating class' student debt, estimated to be worth around $40 million.

Vista did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, sent outside working hours.