Advance into the call center market: Zoom dares the biggest acquisition to date


Status: 07/19/2021 10:30 a.m.

The times of unrestrained growth during the corona pandemic are over for Zoom. With a billion dollar takeover, the video conferencing service now wants to broaden its business.

The US video service Zoom plans to take over the cloud software provider Five9 for $ 14.7 billion. In particular, the company produces software for use in call centers. The Five9 management is behind the deal, the business will be continued as an operational unit of Zoom under the previous company boss Rowan Trollope, announced Zoom.

The purchase is expected to be completed in the first half of 2022. It is the largest takeover of the company founded in 2011.

Shares are exchanged

The deal is to be financed with own shares: Zoom wants to give the shareholders of Five9 0.5533 Zoom papers for one of their own shares. Five9 shares are valued at $ 200.28. The stock closed at $ 177.60 on Friday. The shareholders have yet to approve the transaction. The acquisition is primarily intended to help with the further expansion of Zoom Phone, a cloud telephone system for companies.

Zoom itself has been listed on the stock market since April 2019. When it went public, the company had a valuation of just nine billion dollars. The video service is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the pandemic due to the home office trend, which has driven the share price up rapidly. Zoom now has a market capitalization of just under $ 107 billion.

Return to the offices

With the purchase, the company is trying to prepare for the time after the pandemic and to expand its business model. After all, more and more employees are currently returning to the offices. This means that the rapid growth is likely to slow down.

In the first quarter, Zoom had increased sales over the same quarter last year by 191 percent to 956.2 million US dollars. However, the growth figures in the previous quarters were significantly higher.

Furthermore, Zoom has to contend with stiff competition. Microsoft Teams, Webex from Cisco as well as Google and Facebook also offer conference tools. According to analysts, Cisco and Zoom are ahead in the business.

Growth in the Call Center Market?

Zoom is now increasingly trying to attract corporate customers. The company described the acquisition as an opportunity for long-term growth in the call center market. Employees could then offer their services from home.

The customers of the cloud-based provider Five9 include the sports fashion manufacturers Under Armor and Lululemon, as well as the camera company Olympus from Japan.



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