getty
National Instruments surged nearly 11% on Tuesday after manufacturing giant Emerson Electric revealed a nearly $7 billion all-cash offer to buy the testing equipment maker. Though National Instruments has yet to publicly respond, the buyout would mint one big winner, National Instruments cofounder and former CEO James Truchard, who was propelled back into Forbes’ billionaire rankings for the first time since 2019 as a result of the jump in the share price.
Emerson Electric said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Tuesday that it is offering $53 a share for National Instruments. According to Emerson Electric, the offer was submitted privately to National Instruments on Nov. 3, 2022 but revealed to the public after the company did not respond. Emerson Electric said it previously offered $48 per share in May 2022, but the testing supplier refused to engage. National Instruments’ senior public relations manager Christine Wolf declined to comment for this article and pointed to a Tuesday press release from the company saying it will evaluate the proposal as part of a recently launched review of strategic operations.
Truchard, who cofounded National Instruments in 1976 and served as its CEO for more than four decades before stepping down in 2017, saw his estimated net worth jump to more than $1 billion when National Instruments closed the trading day on Tuesday at $52.04 per share. The former CEO owns an estimated 9% of National Instruments shares, in addition to about $365 million from previous sales of National Instruments stock and dividends. Because Emerson Electric is offering cash for the National Instruments acquisition, Truchard would walk away with an estimated $500 million at $53 per share after accounting for capital gains tax.
A Texas native and an engineer, Truchard started National Instruments with two of his colleagues – Jeff Kodosky and Bill Nowlin – at the University of Texas at Austin Applied Research Laboratories; Truchard got his PhD in electrical engineering from UT Austin. According to the university, the trio of researchers were frustrated by the inefficient data collection tools available at the time, so began designing solutions for scientists and engineers. Today, National Instruments produces both hardware and software for governments, colleges and companies. Revenues for the 12 months through September 2022 were $1.6 billion.
Truchard first appeared on Forbes’ billionaires list in 2018 before dropping out of the rankings in 2020. He stepped down as chairman of National Instruments’ board, his last known position at the company, in January 2019. (Truchard could not be reached for comment for this story. Forbes did not receive a response following multiple calls to a number linked to Truchard’s foundation.)
Since retiring from the company, Truchard appears to have shifted his focus to philanthropy. He donated more than 1.1 million National Instruments shares worth $40 million to the charitable Truchard Foundation, from 2017 to 2019, according to public filings.Truchard’s foundation mainly focuses on education and the advancement of science and innovation. He and his foundation have donated to multiple schools in Texas, including his alma mater UT Austin and Texas A&M University, as well as schools outside the state. His foundation gave $1.25 million to Drexel University in 2019 and $200,000 to Baylor College of Medicine in 2017, according to public filings. He has also been a significant funder of Alzheimer’s research, helping launch the Oskar Fischer Prize in late 2019; it offers millions of dollars in prize money to scientists who can help with understanding and tackling the disease.
“I like to engage in intellectual investment in my field,” Truchard told Texas A&M University last year when he funded the establishment of two endowed chairs at its engineering school. “I want to be involved in the process of discovery.”