Zoom Video Communications has agreed to acquire cloud-based software firm Five9 for $14.7 billion in its biggest move yet to expand its offerings after experiencing meteoric growth during the pandemic.
Five9’s customer-service platform will provide Zoom with an entrée into the $24 billion contact center market, which has been growing amid the shift to remote work.
“We expect that this acquisition will help enhance Zoom’s presence with customers and allow us to accelerate our long-term growth opportunity,” Zoom CEO Eric Yuan said in a blog post, adding that “Combining Five9’s Contact Center as a Service solution with Zoom’s broad communications platform will transform how businesses connect with their customers.”
As part of the deal, Five9 stockholders will receive 0.5533 shares of Class A common stock of Zoom for each share of Five9. Zoom’s shares are up more than 46% over the past year, fueled by increased user numbers since the pandemic hit.
The stock fell 2.1% to $354.20 in trading Monday.
As CNN reports, “while the coronavirus crisis has helped Zoom become a household name, the company faces pressure to find new avenues of growth as economies reopen and the need for remote conferencing dips.”
“Even with its breakneck success, analysts say that Zoom will eventually also need to add new features to encourage more people to pay for its services,” CNN added.
In the past year, Zoom has added several office collaboration products, a cloud phone system, and an all-in-one home communications appliance to its offerings but the Five9 acquisition is “in a different league than its previous purchases,” according to TechCrunch.
The Five9 Intelligent Cloud Contact Center currently offers digital engagement, analytics, workflow automation, workforce optimization, and practical AI to more than 2,000 customers worldwide.
“Joining forces with Zoom will provide Five9’s business customers access to best-of-breed solutions, particularly Zoom Phone, that will enable them to realize more value and deliver real results for their business,” Five9 CEO Rowan Trollope said.
Zoom Phone is a digital alternative to legacy phone offerings. “This acquisition is complementary to the growing popularity of our Zoom Phone offering,” Yuan said.