Zoom Video Communications and Five9 have mutually terminated their merger agreement. The agreement did not receive the requisite number of votes from Five9 shareholders to approve the merger with Zoom. According to media articles, the deal was dropped after Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) urged investors to reject the transaction, citing in part potential political risk associated with Zoom’s “substantial operations in China”. In addition, the US Department of Justice called for a national security review.
Five9 is a provider of a cloud contact center with more than 2,000 customers worldwide. It provides digital engagement, analytics, workflow automation, workforce optimization, and practical AI to help customers reimagine their customer experience.
At Five9’s special meeting of stockholders held on September 30, 2021, Five9 did not obtain the requisite stockholder support for the merger agreement. As a result, Zoom and Five9 each had the ability to terminate the merger agreement. Five9 will continue to operate as a standalone publicly traded company.
“The contact center market remains a strategic priority for Zoom, and we are confident in our ability to capture its growth potential” said Eric S. Yuan, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Zoom in a company statement. “At Zoomtopia, we announced the Zoom Video Engagement Center, our cloud-based contact center solution, which will launch in early 2022. We also plan to maintain our valued existing contact center partnerships with companies like Five9, Genesys, NICE inContact, Talkdesk, and Twilio.”
Sources: https://investors.zoom.us/news-releases/news-release-details/zoom-announces-termination-merger-agreement-five9 / https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210930006016/en/Five9-and-Zoom-Mutually-Agree-to-Terminate-Merger-Agreement / https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3150834/zoom-and-five9-drop-us147-billion-merger-amid-us-security
