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Zendesk abandons attempt to acquire SurveyMonkey parent

Zendesk abandons attempt to acquire SurveyMonkey parent

The $4 billion deal to buy Momentive has fallen through, the company announced.

Momentive announced on Monday that it is changing its Board of Directors and authorizing a $200 million share repurchase program. The company, which is behind SurveyMonkey, broke the news after Zendesk announced the “termination” of their merger agreement with Momentive.

When Zendesk announced in October that it had entered an acquisition deal to buy Momentive, analysts estimated the deal to amount to about $4 billion. 

But Zendesk had to abandon its acquisition plan after it did not receive stockholder approval on February 25.

Zendesk will remain “laser-focused” on its current strategy

“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,” said Mikkel Svane, CEO and Founder, Zendesk. “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.”

“Zendesk’s mission is to simplify the complexity of business and make it easier for companies and customers to create connections. We remain focused on accelerating our rapid growth in the enterprise, continuing to lead the market with easy-to-use and innovative products and, importantly, unlocking opportunities to create value for customers by empowering them with rich, multi-dimensional customer intelligence,” said Svane.

Momentive buys back its own stock

Momentive, for its part, announced changes to its Board of Directors and the Board’s Strategic Committee. It also announced that it has authorized a $200 million share repurchase program.

“We have conviction in our strategy,” said Zander Lurie, chief executive officer of Momentive. “The setbacks we’ve faced are transient. We compete in a massive market and we maintain a valuable portfolio of products that address specific challenges our customers face, in small and large companies alike.”

Momentive will host a virtual investor day in Q2 to share more details on its product and go-to-market initiatives. They will also provide an updated long-term operating model. “We’ll publish a date in the near future,” the company promised.