In July, Zoom and Five9 (News - Alert) made headlines with acquisition chatter. The all-stock $14.9 billion deal would have positioned Zoom to enter the $24 billion contact center market with authority. This week, the shareholders had something to say.
While Zoom CEO Eric Yuan laid out a compelling argument for the transaction, Five9 shareholders stopped the acquisition. Five9 remains a valued contact center partner like Genesys (News - Alert), NICE inContact, Talkdesk and Twilio.
Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis counseled shareholders to vote down the deal, due to concerns over growth and dual class shares. ISS isn’t alone in concerns. The U.S. Justice Department launched a review of the acquisition, citing national security concerns.
Despite the “Cons,” the deal was never thought in doubt, and nobody surprised by the narrative of collaboration colossus championing the cloud contact center amid its pandemic ascension.
Some analysts believe this is more of a “not now,” than flat out “no.” Yuan views Five9 as an “attractive opportunity,” we know this. While a second overture is possible, Yuan noted in a company blog, the purchase of Five9 “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.”
Since announcing the purchase in July, Zoom’s stock has dipped, to say the least, as Q2 growth missed expectation. Five9 on the other hand, jumped nearly 20% since the news – taking a small dip yesterday after the shareholder vote.
Zoom is moving forward with an early 2022 release of the Zoom Video Engagement Center (VEC), its response to customer demand to create a customer engagement solution.
In its brief history of 10 years, Zoom has achieved “Kleenex” status. With its current contact center integrations remaining in place, and the VEC on the horizon, I wouldn’t be too concerned about Zoom’s future.