Peak 10, the $400M American Dream

David Jones co-founded Peak 10 in 2000 with partner Nick Kottyan. Each contributed $350,000 to start building and operating data centers.

Ten years later, Jones and his partner took some hefty profits and sold the company to a New York-based private equity firm in an all cash deal worth $400 million, as reported by the Charlotte Business Journal.

Jones told the Charlotte Business Journal: “All the management team had stock in this company, and it gave us the opportunity to take some of our profits off the table. It’s a sort of (the) American dream.”

The dream was made possible by Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, the new owners, who will take over when the deal finalizes in October. Jones will remain as CEO. The rest of the management team also kept minority stakes and wisely elected to retain their positions.

Peak 10 now runs 19 data centers in ten markets: Charlotte, Jacksonville, Raleigh, Tampa, Louisville, Nashville, Richmond, Atlanta, Cincinnati and Fort Lauderdale. The next ten years could see more markets, more data centers and more cash for the dream team.

Jones says: “Our strategic focus remains intact but our resources now position us to more rapidly extend our geographic footprint, strengthen our team and further accelerate our managed services and cloud offerings.”