Grant Thornton to acquire CBIZ for $5B

Grant Thornton will acquire CBIZ in an all-cash $5 billion deal.

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Upon the transaction’s expected closing in the fourth quarter of this year, Grant Thornton is expected to become the fifth-largest firm with more than $5 billion in domestic revenue, $7.5 billion in global revenue and over 34,500 employees. Grant Thornton currently ranks No. 9 on Accounting Today‘s 2026 Top 100 Firms list with $2.5 billion in revenue. CBIZ ranks No. 8 with $2.8 billion in revenue. 

The combination is backed by Grant Thornton’s private equity investor New Mountain Capital, and it aims to enhance the firm’s AI capabilities, grow its multinational reach and expand its industry specialization and service offerings. Grant Thornton also plans to separate CBIZ’s benefits and insurance segment into a new independent company backed by New Mountain.

“By combining our multinational platform with CBIZ’s strong market presence, we’re broadening our ability to support businesses through every stage of growth — from early development to global scale,” Jim Peko, CEO of Grant Thornton Advisors and leader of the Grant Thornton Advisors multinational platform, said in a statement. “Together, we’ll bring the quality, scope and capabilities clients need to navigate an increasingly complex and rapidly evolving business environment.”

CBIZ is currently the only publicly traded accounting firm. Its shareholders will receive $55 in cash per share, which is roughly a 54% premium to CBIZ’s 30-day volume-weighted average share price. The firm will be wholly owned by Grant Thornton Advisors, and its stock will cease to trade and no longer be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. 

“This is a historic combination with a complementary cultural and strategic fit,” Jerry Grisko, president and CEO of CBIZ, said in a statement. “CBIZ has grown rapidly over many years to become a leading professional services provider. Joining Grant Thornton Advisors accelerates the realization of that vision, creating a stronger firm with new and exciting opportunities for our team members and enhanced service offerings for clients, while delivering significant value to CBIZ shareholders.”

The CBIZ board of directors unanimously approved the transaction and recommended that shareholders vote in favor of the transaction. While the deal is slated to close later this year, there is a “go-shop” provision until Aug. 27, under which “the CBIZ board of directors will have the right to terminate the merger agreement to enter into an alternative transaction that constitutes a superior proposal, subject to the terms and conditions of the merger agreement, including payment of a termination fee.”

“The roughly 10 times EV/EBITDA multiple looks like an attractive price for Grant Thornton relative to the low- to midteens range we estimated for similar transactions over the past couple months,” Andrew Nicholas, global services analyst at William Blair, said in a report. “CBIZ’s second-quarter results certainly muddy the picture. We would have expected a significant negative reaction in shares absent this morning’s announcement, primarily due to the sequential degradation in organic growth. Industry multiples tend to give heavy weight to organic growth profiles.”

“This major move by New Mountain reflects the transition underway in the accounting profession,” Bob Lewis, president of The Visionary Group, commented. “It is a shift of a magnitude unlikely to be repeated soon, and it strongly affirms that outside investment in accounting is not a passing phase. It is now part of the profession and will continue to grow.”

Lewis continued, “What is especially notable is that, while this combination involves two large, leading firms, investment is also occurring at smaller scales across the industry. Many firms with more than $100 million in revenue have taken outside investment, and a growing number of private equity firms, some only a few years old, are acquiring firms with revenues of $10 million and up. This capital structure has also created specialty investor groups focused on rolling up sub-$10 million firms.”

Grant Thornton has been steadily adding firms to its multiplatform since it first received an investment from New Mountain and split its non-attest services into Grant Thornton Advisors and its attest services into Grant Thornton LLP. In April, it added Australia to its platform. In November 2025, it announced it would be adding firms in Puerto Rico, Brazil, Poland and New Zealand. It has already added GT firms in the U.S., Ireland, France, the United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands, the Channel Islands, the Cayman Islands, Spain, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Goldman Sachs is serving as financial advisor to CBIZ. Weil, Gotshal & Manges is serving as its legal advisor, and Teneo is serving as its strategic communications advisor. 

Deutsche Bank is acting as lead financial advisor for Grant Thornton Advisors. Other financial advisors include JPMorgan, BMO Capital Markets, BofA Securities, RBC Capital Markets and UBS Investment Bank. 

Evercore is acting as financial advisor to New Mountain Capital and Grant Thornton on the CBIZ benefits and insurance segment. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Mayer Brown and Hunton Andrews Kurth are serving as legal advisors to Grant Thornton Advisors, and Goldin Solutions as strategic communications advisor.