Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) announced yesterday it has entered into an agreement to acquire Vonage Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: VG) for $21 per share. This represents a total acquisition price of approximately $6.2 billion. The merger builds upon Ericsson’s stated intent to expand globally in wireless enterprise, offering existing customers an increased share of a market valued at $700 billion by 2030.
“The core of our strategy is to build leading mobile networks through technology leadership,” Börje Ekholm, President and CEO of Ericsson said. “Vonage gives us a platform to help our customers monetize the investments in the network, benefitting developers and businesses. Imagine putting the power and capabilities of 5G, the biggest global innovation platform, at the fingertips of developers.”
For Ericsson, the acquisition builds on the success of the integration of Cradlepoint in September 2020. The cloud-based Vonage Communications Platform (VCP) serves around 120,000 customers and more than one million registered developers globally. The API (Application Programming Interface) platform within VCP allows developers to embed high quality communications – including messaging, voice and video – into applications and products, without back-end infrastructure or interfaces.
Rory Read, CEO of Vonage, says: “Ericsson and Vonage have a shared ambition to accelerate our long-term growth strategy. The convergence of the internet, mobility, the cloud and powerful 5G networks are forming the digital transformation and intelligent communications wave, which is driving a secular change in the way businesses operate. The combination of our two companies offers exciting opportunities for customers, partners, developers and team members to capture this next wave.”
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