On September 30, Zoom’s plan to expand its offerings following its pandemic boom received a major blow when Five9 Inc shareholders voted down the call center software firm’s $14.7 billion sales to Zoom Video Communications Inc.
The proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis earlier this month recommended that Five9 shareholders vote against the deal, citing growth concerns and dual-class shares leading to the termination of what would have been Zoom’s biggest-ever acquisition.
Five9 shareholders would have received 0.5533 Zoom shares for every Five9 shares under the deal terms announced in July. A 12.8% premium over Five9’s market price was implied by the terms and valued the company at $14.7 billion.
Zoom’s stock has since then dropped over 25% as the virtual conferencing giant reported flat growth on its second-quarter earnings call. ISS said in its report earlier in September:
“The all-stock deal exposes FIVN shareholders to a more volatile stock whose growth prospects have become less compelling as society inches towards a post-pandemic environment.”
The CEO of the California-based Five9, San Ramon, said the merger agreement did not receive enough approval votes from its shareholders, and it will continue to operate as a standalone publicly traded company.
Zoom CEO Eric Yuan said on September 30 that an attractive means to bring to customers an integrated contact center offering was presented by Five9. Yuan added:
“That said, it was in no way foundational to the success of our platform nor was it the only way for us to offer our customers a compelling contact center solution.”
The firm said that its cloud-based contact center solution, Zoom Video Engagement Center, would be launched in early 2022. Five9 would continue the partnership with Zoom that was in place before the announcement.
As the pandemic clamped down on activity and businesses and schools adopted its services to hold virtual classes and office meetings, Zoom became a household name and an investor favorite.
However, with rapid vaccination and life creeping back to normal, Zoom was looking for revenue sources beyond its core video conferencing business, which faces stiff competition from rivals Microsoft Corp, Cisco Systems Inc., and Salesforce’s Slack.
According to a letter filed with United States regulators, a U.S. Justice Department-led committee had been reviewing Zoom’s proposed purchase of Five9 over possible national security concerns, although analysts last week said the deal was unlikely to be scrapped as a result. [nL4N2QO2UD].
In recent years, Zoom’s connection with China has been scrutinized.
Since the deal was announced in July, Five9’s shares gained as much as 19.3% but fell 1.1% to $157.9 in extended trading on September 30.
Firms such as Under Armour, Lululemon Athletica Inc, and Olympus Corp are customers of Five9, whose call center software is used by more than 2,000 clients across the globe.
