Santa Cruz, US, March 28, 2018 — US-based communications equipment company Plantronics announces intent to acquire Polycom. The acquisition target Polycom is most known for their voice and video collaboration technology, including endpoints and infrastructure components.
Details on the price
Both parties have now agreed to the deal and will conclude the transaction in cash and stock at a value of $2b. The change is subject to regulatory approvals and review of third parties, but Plantronics communicated that they plan to close the acquisition by the end of the third quarter of this year. While the sum of the deal is undoubtedly impressive, it is not unusual for the industry. We’ve seen Cisco acquire Tandberg, who was competition to Polycom, for a price of $3.3b back in 2010.
The Plantronics plan
With Polycom in the bag, Plantronics aims to broaden their solution portfolio. The classic product range of Plantronics until now focused on selling enterprise-grade headsets for phones. With the Polycom product range, they seek to increase market opportunity across various segments within and around the usage of unified communication and collaboration systems in larger organizations, which they project to be worth $39.9b.
Leadership insights
CEO and president of Plantronics, Joe Burton, comments in the official press release, “With the addition of Polycom’s solutions across video, audio and collaboration we will be able to deliver a comprehensive portfolio of communications and collaboration touch points and services to our customers and channel partners. This will put Plantronics in an ideal position to solve for today’s enterprise collaboration requirements while capitalizing on market opportunities associated with the evolving, intelligent enterprise.”
From Polycom point of view, CEO Mary T. McDowell, adds, “Bringing Plantronics and Polycom together will broaden the breadth of solutions available to customers and partners and create a consistent end-user experience across many collaboration applications and devices. As one company, Plantronics and Polycom will make it even easier for all customers to solve big-business problems through human-to-human connections.”
Focusing on the financials, Siris Capital founder and managing partner, Frank Baker, further mentioned, “We are excited about the long-term value that the combination of Plantronics and Polycom will create for customers, partners, stakeholders, and employees.”
YouTube: The Future of Collaboration Revolves Around You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMZg5kivJzY
Photo credit: Plantronics
Source: Plantronics press release / Lance Whitney (CNET)
Editorial notice: The quotes have been provided as part of a public press release.
