In a blockbuster deal announced on March 28, venerable communications giant Plantronics will acquire conferencing and collaboration luminary Polycom for $2 billion. The boards of both companies unanimously approved the deal, which will likely close in the third quarter of 2018, pending regulatory approval.
"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," said Plantronics president and CEO Joe Burton.
In a press release accompanying the announcement, Plantronics outlined four key benefits of the acquisition:
1. Polycom’s standing in the voice and video collaboration markets will accelerate Plantonics’ plans to deliver new collaboration and communication experiences.
2. Plantronics will now have the broadest portfolio of complementary products and services across the global communications and collaboration ecosystem.
3. Acquiring Polycom will enable Plantronics to pursue new opportunities in the Unified Communications and Collaboration market.
4. Polycom considerably expands the services already on offer by Plantronics.
According to Polycom CEO Mary T. McDowell, the marriage of Plantronics and Polycom “will broaden the breadth of solutions available to customers and partners and create a consistent end-user experience across many collaboration applications and devices.”
Polycom, which was founded in 1990, has long been a leader in the audio conferencing industry. In 2015, the company unveiled the game-changing Polycom RealPresence Trio. The tabletop conferencing solution, which incorporates business-grade video and content sharing, became the fastest-selling conference phone in Polycom’s storied history.
Plantronics will not only strengthen its foothold in the audio conferencing market, but in the video realm as well. In recent years, Polycom has expanded and refined its offering of video conferencing and collaboration solutions. Considering the number of rooms in the world that still lack video capabilities, Plantronics’ acquisition of Polycom will allow the company to charge into an expanding video solutions market.
"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,” said Plantronics CEO Joe Burton. “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.”
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