Atlassian is buying Arc maker The Browser Company for $610 million

The tech world is buzzing with big news: Atlassian, the company behind popular productivity tools like Jira and Trello, is acquiring The Browser Company, the innovative minds behind the Arc and AI-focused Dia browsers. The deal is valued at approximately $610 million in an all-cash transaction, expected to finalize by the end of 2025.

What does this mean for The Browser Company and its users? The good news is that The Browser Company will continue to operate independently. Their primary focus will be accelerating the development of Dia, their cutting-edge AI-centric browser, which began its private beta in June. While active development on their highly-regarded Arc browser has ceased, Arc and Arc Search will remain available, with a long-term plan to be unveiled soon.

Both co-founders, Josh Miller (CEO) and Hursh Agrawal (CTO), will stay on to lead the company. Miller shared in a blog post that this acquisition is about accelerating their vision. He noted that Atlassian’s strengths perfectly complement their own, and crucially, both companies share a belief that the browser is evolving into the new operating system. This partnership aims to bring Dia to “every platform faster than we could have previously imagined.”

Miller outlined three key conditions for the acquisition: ensuring continued independence for The Browser Company, retaining all team members, and keeping the vision for Dia at the forefront. He emphasized that shared values played a significant role in choosing Atlassian.

Atlassian CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes echoed this enthusiasm, stating their vision to make Dia “the AI browser for work.” He highlighted Dia’s design philosophy: optimized for SaaS apps, packed with AI capabilities and personal work memory, and built with trust and security, making it ideal for the professional environment.

This move comes as Atlassian itself has been making headlines, with recent reports of around 150 layoffs, particularly in customer service, with plans to leverage AI for some of those tasks. Integrating an AI-first browser like Dia into their ecosystem seems to align perfectly with their strategic direction in the age of artificial intelligence. This acquisition signals a bold step for Atlassian into the browser space, focusing heavily on the future of work-centric AI.