(Headset) Boom! Plantronics Purchases Polycom

Plantronics announce their completed acquisition of Polycom

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PlantronicsPolycom
Meeting Rooms and Devices

Published: July 3, 2018

Rebekah Carter - Writer

Rebekah Carter

Headset innovator, Plantronics, recently announced that their $2 billion acquisition of Polycom had reached a successful conclusion. Together, Polycom and Plantronics will be creating a brand-new business, designed to deliver state-of-the-art desk phones, video and audio conferencing equipment, software, headsets, and analytics to the enterprise market.

The initial announcement for the acquisition took place in spring this year, and Plantronics noted that the purchase would put them in a great position to access new sales opportunities in the Unified Communications and Collaboration industry.

In the latest official press release, the Plantronics CEO, Joe Burton said:

“We are pleased that Plantronics and Polycom are moving ahead as one company focused on putting people at the centre of every collaboration experience.”

Delving into the Details of the Acquisition

Logo PolycomPlantronics paid a hefty $2 billion for Polycom, made up of around $1.6 billion in cash, and another 6.4 million in Plantronics shares. The purchase was completed with a loan which should mature in the summer of 2025, and the companies expect to achieve improved cost synergies in the region of $75 million within the next 12 months.

The marriage between Plantronics and Polycom comes at an important time, when customers everywhere are hunting for video and audio solutions that are easy to use, easy to buy, and easy to manage, according to founder of Recon Research, Ira Weinstein. Together, Plantronics and Polycom will be able to offer a vast portfolio of intelligent UCC endpoints and services. This is a huge step forward for Plantronics, a company that only managed to maintain a UC presence through headsets in the past.

Burton said:

“This combined offering empowers people with the tools and flexibility they need to create the best experience when connecting to what’s important to them.”

With Polycom, Plantronics can officially expand beyond headsets into everything from AV conferencing, to cloud services and software.

A Strong Synergy Between Polycom and Plantronics

Joe Burton Plantronics
Joe Burton, Plantronics CEO

Many analysts and industry experts are already predicting big things from the Plantronics and Polycom partnership. After all, the portfolios that both companies offer are very complementary, with one focused on UC, and the other on /unified-communications/ucaas. Plantronics will be able to get more access into the UC hardware space, with audio conferencing systems and IP desktop phones, while Polycom expands their headset services.

Plantronics believes that the acquisition will have an impact on their Non-GAAP earnings almost instantly. Although there will be some restructuring to do, and integration costs to handle, the natural synergy between both businesses should allow them to start saving on operational costs very quickly. Plantronics plans to reveal their financial results for the first quarter of 2019 in August, though they will reflect the performance of Plantronics alone, as the acquisition wasn’t complete before the end of the most recent quarter.

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