If you’re a marketer or CX leader who depends on Medallia, you’ve probably been wondering: Is Medallia going out of business? Should I be concerned? The short answer is no — Medallia is not shutting down. However, there is a major development underway, and its impact on users, buyers, and anyone evaluating PE-backed enterprise software is important to grasp. Here’s the context.
What happened
Thoma Bravo, the private equity (PE) firm that acquired Medallia for $6.4 billion in 2021, is turning the company over to its lenders. A group of creditors — Blackstone, KKR, Apollo Global, and Antares Capital — will assume ownership through a debt-for-equity swap. Thoma Bravo’s equity has been wiped out. Its co-investors’ equity has also been erased. The resulting $5.1 billion loss ranks among the largest in the history of PE-backed software deals.
On his firm’s first-quarter 2026 earnings call last week, Brad Marshall, co-CEO of Blackstone Secured Lending, spoke directly about the situation. His remarks were more explicit than anything Medallia itself has shared publicly: the lenders are not stepping in to dismantle the company. They intend to fund it.
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“We, together with the other lenders, plan to invest new capital into the business and meaningfully de-lever the balance sheet,” Marshall said. “This will allow the company to better serve its customers and invest in new products and AI features.” He also stated plainly: “Medallia is highly profitable…”