From reports of a shock acquisition to a CEO departure, here are some extracts from our most popular news stories over the last seven days.
Reports: MessageBird Targets Shock Twilio Takeover
MessageBird, now known as Bird, is reportedly lining up an audacious bid for troubled rival Twilio.
According to a report by The Information, Bird has held discussions with investors about raising money to acquire Twilio, citing “people familiar with the matter”. There is no suggestion that formal talks have occurred between Bird and Twilio or that Bird will make an offer.
CX Today has contacted Bird and Twilio for comment.
Publicly listed Twilio has a market cap of just under $13bn, while privately held Bird was valued at $3.8bn when it last raised cash in 2021.
Simultaneously, Bird yesterday name-dropped Twilio as it rebranded and claimed to have slashed the price of its SMS API service by 90 percent.
That means if you spend $100k on SMS with a company like Twilio, you’ll only spend $10k with Bird,” Bird CEO Robert Vis said in a blog post.
Vis has also stoked rumors of an acquisition in posts via LinkedIn, albeit of varying sizes.
He reportedly said, "Just a late-night thought. Should I buy Twilio and take it private?” on Wednesday before deleting the post.
A still-live post says: "Hi World! Looking for $0- $5m revenue companies with EMI and/or PI license looking to be acquired." (Read on…).
Vonage CEO to Step Down on Thursday, Ericsson Exec to Steady the Ship
Vonage CEO Rory Read will vacate his position on Thursday, February 1, 2024.
Read has held the position since July 2020 after taking over from Alan Masarek, the current Avaya CEO.
Most notably, he oversaw the CCaaS, UCaaS, and CPaaS company’s sale to Ericsson in 2021 for an eye-watering $6.2BN.
Yet, since then, Vonage’s fortunes have taken a turn, with year-over-year (YoY) revenue growth rising just two percent last quarter.
According to Francois Bouvignies, Director of Equity Research at USB, that is “well below” what Ericsson had originally expected.
In addition, Vonage suffered several high-profile setbacks in H2 of 2023.
In November, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced $100MN in refunds to Vonage consumers, denouncing the vendor for making it difficult for consumers to cancel their subscriptions.
The enterprise communications also landed in hot water with the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) for breaching SMS anti-scam regulations.
Such setbacks preceded reports suggesting Ericsson has taken a $2.92BN hit on the acquisition.
Yet, a tricky macro-environment – which has also troubled many competitors – is likely the primary thorn in Vonage’s side.