LogMeIn acquires LastPass password manager

LastPass, the company behind the popular cloud-based password manager LastPass, just announced that it has been acquired by LogMeIn, a company known for products such as Hamachi, Cubby or its line of remote support applications.

According to the announcement, the LastPass team continues to work on its product including the free version which will remain available for the time being.

The company promises to introduce new features in coming months as it becomes part of the LogMeIn family of products.

We will continue to build and improve LastPass for our free, Premium, and Enterprise customers. Together with LogMeIn, we’ll be able to accomplish more, faster – providing an even better service to millions of people. As we become part of the LogMeIn family over the next several months, we’ll be releasing updates to LastPass, introducing new features, and continuing to grow the service as we work to bring LastPass to millions more who struggle with passwords.

Customer reactions are mostly negative right now based on LogMeIn's reputation of removing free account support from products in 2014 and starting to cross-sell products to increase revenue.

At least some users fear that LogMeIn could repeat this by ending support for the free version of LastPass.

LogMeIn's press releases offers additional information about the deal. It mentions a purchase price of $125 million US Dollars ($110 million in cash and $15 million if certain milestones are reached) and the closing of the deal in the coming weeks.

The company plans to integrate previous identity management investments like Meldium into LastPass, to support both product lines near-term and unify them under the LastPass service and brand in the future.

Following the close of the deal, LogMeIn plans to bring complementary capabilities of its early identity management investments, including those of Meldium, which it acquired in September 2014, into LastPass. In the near-term, both the Meldium and LastPass product lines will continue to be supported, with longer-term plans to center around a singular identity management offering based on the LastPass service and brand.

Existing LastPass users need to evaluate whether they are trusting LogMeIn as much as they have trusted LastPass with their data and the future of the password manager.

Existing users can export their database of passwords to import it in another password manager such as KeePass should they come to the conclusion that they don't trust LogMeIn to the same extent that they have trusted LastPass in the past.