Already popular for its video and teleconferencing facilities, Zoom announced on Sunday, 18 July, that it has agreed to buy the leading provider of the intelligent cloud contact center, Five9 for about US$14.7 Billion in an all-stock transaction. Both the companies said that the deal is expected to close in the first half of 2022. After the deal is closed, Five9 will become the operating unit of Zoom. It is said to be Zoom’s biggest acquisition, which will expand its potential offerings for business and enterprise clients. 

Eric S Yuan, CEO of Zoom said in a public statement that the acquisition of Five9 will be paramount in making Zoom enter the “$24 billion” market for contact centers. Five9 has amassed over 2,000 customers worldwide and includes Citrix and Under Armour and processes over 7 billion minutes of calls annually. This acquisition will support the company’s Zoom Phone business, which replaces office telephone systems with a cloud-based service.  Zoom wants to tap into the cloud-based contact center market, which operates over the internet and has been gaining popularity in past years.  Zoom has accelerated the adoption of such technology because many contact center staff have been working remotely during the pandemic.

“We are continuously looking for ways to enhance our platform, and the addition of Five9 is a natural fit that will deliver even more happiness and value to our customers,” said Eric S. Yuan, founder and chief executive of Zoom, in a statement.

The deal closing between both firms will be helpful for them in grabbing cross-selling opportunities in each other’s respective customer bases. 

Rowan Trollope, chief executive of Five9, said that 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. This, combined with Zoom’s ‘ease-of use’ philosophy and broad communication portfolio, will truly enable customers to engage via their preferred channel of choice.”

Zoom is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the remote work culture and the hybrid model that has been put in place since the Covid-19 pandemic. The value of the company’s shares has more than tripled since the extensive lockdowns in the U.S and elsewhere more than a year ago. Zoom has been undertaking many measures to ensure continued growth even as the reeling effects of the pandemic wane and people return to work from the office model. 

In 2020, Zoom had acquired startup Keybase Inc. for the purpose of building end-to-end encryption capabilities for its video conferencing service, and last month it acquired the translation software maker Kites GmbH.