The all-stock deal, which was announced in October 2021, was approved by Momentive Global’s shareholders, while Zendesk did not get the requisite number of votes from its stockholders
Zendesk terminates its previously announced deal with Momentive Global. (Credit: Aymanejed from Pixabay)
Zendesk’s previously announced acquisition of Momentive Global, the developer of the SurveyMonkey platform, has been scrapped after failing to get the approval of the former’s shareholders.
As per the terms of the deal signed in October 2021, Zendesk planned to acquire Momentive Global through its fully-owned subsidiary Milky Way Acquisition.
The deal was earlier approved by Momentive Global’s shareholders, while Zendesk did not get the required number of votes from its stockholders.
Zendesk CEO and Founder Mikkel Svane said: “While we were excited by the potential of this transaction to transform the customer experience and create stockholder value, we respect and appreciate the perspectives of our stockholders.
“Our Board and management team remain laser-focused on our strategy and execution. Zendesk’s business has never been stronger, with accelerated revenue growth of 30% to $1.34 billion in revenue in 2021 and a clear path to generating $3.4 billion in revenue by 2025.”
Based in the US, Zendesk is a customer relationship management (CRM) company. It offered to take over the publicly-listed Momentive for $28 per share in an all-stock deal. Momentive’s stockholders were to be issued 0.225 shares of Zendesk for each share of Momentive, under the terms of the deal.
The share exchange ratio meant that Zendesk’s shareholders would have owned nearly 78% stake in the enlarged company, while Momentive’s shareholders would have held the remaining stake of 22%, had the deal closed.
The transaction was to close in the first half of 2022 had it won approvals from shareholders of both the firms along with receipt of regulatory approvals and meeting of other customary closing conditions.
Headquartered in California, Momentive is an agile experience management firm. It provides enterprise solutions for agile experience management and insights via three product brands, namely Momentive, SurveyMonkey, and GetFeedback.
Momentive CEO Zander Lurie said: “While we are disappointed that Zendesk stockholders did not vote to approve the transaction, we are confident in our go-forward strategy.
“We have a strong portfolio of products that address valuable customer needs, and our market opportunity is larger and more relevant than ever. We’ve always been focused on driving stockholder value and remain committed to this important objective on the journey ahead.”
Earlier this month, Zendesk had rejected a takeover bid, reportedly worth $16bn, from a group of private equity firms on the basis that it had undervalued the company. The offer for the shareholders of the CRM company was $127-$132 per share in cash.