Zoom, Five9 terminate $14.7B acquisition deal
Shareholders of software company Five9 Inc voted down the firm’s $14.7 billion sale to video and online chat platform Zoom Video Communications, a major blow to Zoom’s expansion plan following its growth amid the pandemic.
The termination of what would have been Zoom’s biggest acquisition comes after advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis recommended to Five9 shareholders to reject the deal because of growth concerns and dual-class shares.
In a report, ISS said that the “deal exposes FIVN shareholders to a more volatile stock… as society inches towards a post-pandemic environment.”
Zoom CEP Eric Yuan said that the California-based software company is an “attractive means” to offer integrated contact center solutions to clients.
However, Yuan added that it is not “foundational to the success of our platform nor was it the only way for us to offer our customers a compelling contact center solution.”
Five9 stated that it continues to operate as a standalone publicly traded company and will still fulfill its partnership deals with Zoom that were in place prior to the acquisition termination.
