Citrix started life as Citrus, until another company claimed the name. Its founder, a former IBM developer named Ed Iacobucci, wanted one powerful server to run Windows programs for many people at once, each on a cheap or distant machine. Microsoft liked the idea enough to license its code to him and take a stake. When Citrix went public in December 1995, its stock doubled on the first day. This filing came six months later, for a second sale of shares.

A Renamed Fruit

Iacobucci founded the company in Richardson, Texas, in April 1989, then moved it to Coral Springs, Florida. The new name blended Citrus and UNIX. Citrix shipped its first products in 1991. Its WinFrame and WinView software, built under license from Microsoft, let a company keep its Windows programs on a central server. Remote workers, branch offices and even non-Windows machines could all reach the same applications over a network.

Thirty Dollars by the Close

Citrix priced its first shares at $15 in December 1995. They closed the first day at $30. This 1996 filing raised more money from that eager market. The company later moved to Fort Lauderdale and grew into a fixture of corporate IT, as its products became the standard way to deliver apps and desktops from a data center. In September 2022, Vista Equity Partners and Elliott's Evergreen Coast Capital took Citrix private in a $16.5 billion deal and merged it with TIBCO.

Cover: Landscape: Window Overlooking the Woods, Édouard Jean Vuillard. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a window onto distant woods (apps reached from afar).