Ingram Industries Acquires Micro D

While IT distribution today is characterized by a handful of industry-dominating distributors and several smaller specialty distributors, that wasn’t always the case. Instead, IT distribution was a fairly fragmented business until 1989, when Ingram Industries acquired Micro D, resulting in what is now known as Ingram Micro, which dominated the business for over 30 years until Synnex and Tech Data merged in 2021 to form TD Synnex.

Ingram Micro’s roots started in mid-1979 when Micro D was formed in Southern California. After years of expanding nationwide and going public on the OTC (over the counter) market in 1983, all its common stock was purchased by Ingram Industries in 1986. Three years later, Ingram Industries acquired the remaining publicly traded shares of Micro D and merged the company with Ingram Computer to form Ingram Micro D, which in 1991 was renamed Ingram Micro. Ingram Micro in 1996 was split off from Ingram Industries and became a public company, and was the world’s largest IT distributor thanks to a combination of organic growth and multiple acquisitions.

Ingram Micro took an unusual turn in 2016 when it was acquired by China-based HNA Group for $6 billion. It was not a normal acquisition, given that certain end users, particularly the U.S. government, were sensitive to purchasing products and services from a China-based company. Ingram Micro responded by saying the company had ringed itself from the rest of HNA to ensure no influence would bleed in from China. However, HNA over-extended itself with acquisitions all over the world of totally unrelated companies, such as airlines and hotels. This turn of affairs lasted until 2021 when Platinum Equity acquired Ingram Micro for $7.2 billion.