Tuesday, March 28, 2023
New York CT
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Health
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
  • Fashion
  • Tech
  • Home
  • News
  • Health
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
  • Fashion
  • Tech
No Result
View All Result
newyorkCT
No Result
View All Result
Home Tech

CEO buddies under scrutiny in $4B Zendesk and Momentive merger

admin by admin
December 23, 2021
in Tech
0
CEO buddies under scrutiny in $4B Zendesk and Momentive merger
0
SHARES
0
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


May a selfie sink a $4 billion deal? 

Indignant shareholders are questioning whether or not an unpopular software program merger quantities to a sweetheart deal between two CEO buddies — and so they’re pointing to a smiling selfie that the pair posted collectively on Twitter, On The Cash has discovered.

Zendesk, a buyer assist software program maker, mentioned in October that it plans purchase SurveyMonkey guardian firm Momentive in a $4 billion all-stock deal. The transfer baffled some analysts, who argued that it doesn’t make sense for Zendesk — which is larger than Momentive and rising at a quicker price — to soak up a smaller, slower agency.

Now, as shareholder votes on the acquisition strategy in early 2022, some shareholders are crying foul over a private friendship between the CEOs of Zendesk and Momentive that they are saying has created a battle of curiosity. 

Simply after the deal was introduced in October, Zendesk co-founder and CEO Mikkel Svane posted a little-noticed picture smiling of himself alongside Momentive CEO Zander Lurie on Twitter. 

“Large thanks to @zlurie for being an impressive CEO of Momentive,” wrote Svane. “An inspiring chief. A gentleman. And most of all an excellent pal over the past 18 months.”

He completed the tweet with a kissing emoji.

Large thanks to @zlurie for being an impressive CEO of Momentive. An inspiring chief. A gentleman. And most of all an excellent pal over the past 18 months. Kudos to you and your management workforce ? pic.twitter.com/yc20Zq718T

— Mikkel Svane (@mikkelsvane) October 28, 2021

The duo additionally co-hosted a benefit art show in San Francisco alongside different Silicon Valley honchos together with Carl Bass, lead director of the Zendesk board, in September — almost two months earlier than Zendesk’s deal to amass Momentive was introduced. 

Certainly, some steaming shareholders have even speculated that the selfie — which reveals a picturesque vary of hills lined with fir bushes within the background — might have been taken at Bass’s Lake Tahoe residence.

Activist investor Legion Companions, which owns about 1.4 p.c of Momentive, slammed Svane and Lurie’s friendship in a scathing investor letter final week that included a hyperlink to the pair’s selfie.

“Lurie and Svane have a really public and shut relationship as disclosed on Mr. Svane’s Twitter account – what ought to have been an apparent and clear battle was seemingly neglected by a Board that seems to worth its relationship with fellow Silicon Valley insiders over the stockholders they purportedly symbolize,” Legion Companions wrote.

Zendesk
Zendesk inventory fell a whopping 16 p.c after plans to amass Momentive had been introduced.
NurPhoto by way of Getty Photographs

Funding supervisor Jana Companions, a giant Zendesk investor led by hard-charging shareholder activist Barry Rosenstein, can also be elevating hackles over the executives’ friendship and calling for the deal to be scrapped. 

“Was this motivated by the Zendesk CEO’s private friendship with the CEO of Momentive?” wrote Jana Companions in a scathing November letter. “Or is the board merely not sufficiently engaged to appropriately safeguard shareholder pursuits?”   

Zendesk and Momentive didn’t reply to requests for remark however have insisted publicly that they’re going ahead with the merger.

On the day the deal was introduced, shares of Zendesk fell a whopping 16 p.c. On the similar time, shares of Momentive — which counts Meta chief working officer Sheryl Sandberg and tennis famous person Serena Williams amongst its board members — additionally plummeted 9 p.c. Shares of each corporations have nonetheless not recovered to pre-announcement ranges. 

Momentive owns SurveyMonkey.
Getty Photographs

If Legion, Jana and different disgruntled traders get their approach, Zendesk and Momentive shareholders will vote down the merger when it comes up for a vote within the first few months of 2022 — or the businesses will learn the room and keep away from bringing the merger up for a vote within the first place.

The standoff comes months after activist shareholders nuked a proposed $15 billion buyout of a call center software firm Five9 by videoconferencing big Zoom. The businesses announced the deal was off in September, following an outcry from Five9 traders who pointed to Zoom’s slowing post-pandemic development prospects.





Source link

Tags: buddiesCEOmergerMomentivescrutinyZendesk
admin

admin

Related Posts

Meta’s Zuckerberg slashes bonuses, steps up employee reviews
Tech

Meta’s Zuckerberg slashes bonuses, steps up employee reviews

March 28, 2023
Pope Francis in Balenciaga deepfake fools millions: ‘Definitely scary’
Tech

Pope Francis in Balenciaga deepfake fools millions: ‘Definitely scary’

March 28, 2023
Utah sets curfew for social media use by kids in major crackdown
Tech

Utah sets curfew for social media use by kids in major crackdown

March 27, 2023
Next Post
Woman slammed for making boyfriend FaceTime her for 12-hour work shift

Woman slammed for making boyfriend FaceTime her for 12-hour work shift

Georgia HS quarterback Robbie Roper dead at 18 after surgery

Georgia HS quarterback Robbie Roper dead at 18 after surgery

Letters to the Editor — Dec. 23, 2021

Letters to the Editor — Dec. 23, 2021

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended

Suffolk County launching monkeypox vaccine clinics next week on Fire Island

Suffolk County launching monkeypox vaccine clinics next week on Fire Island

9 months ago
Politicians and celebrities condemn vile Tyre Nichols video

Politicians and celebrities condemn vile Tyre Nichols video

2 months ago
Monkey slave labor rampant on Thailand’s coconut farms: report

Monkey slave labor rampant on Thailand’s coconut farms: report

5 months ago
Maple Leafs star Mitch Marner carjacked at gunpoint

Maple Leafs star Mitch Marner carjacked at gunpoint

11 months ago

Categories

  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Fashion
  • Health
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Tech

Topics

Adams Biden Bidens Big Bill Cases CBS CEO City Court COVID COVID19 Day dead Elon Eric George Gov Health Hochul home House inflation Joe man Mandate Mayor monkeypox Musk NYC Office Report reveals school State time Trump Twitter Ukraine Vaccine win workers Yankees years York
No Result
View All Result

Highlights

Selena Gomez’s ‘Wizards of Waverly Place’ character could have been gay

Meta’s Zuckerberg slashes bonuses, steps up employee reviews

Manhattan grand jury investigating Trump hears from key witness David Pecker

Women’s History Month: The little-known story of the Black Angels, nurses who treated tuberculosis patients

Sam Bankman-Fried can use cell phone without internet under new bail

Russia says it test-fired anti-ship missiles in Sea of Japan

Trending

Fed’s Michael Barr Barr knew of SVB risks before it failed
News

Fed’s Michael Barr Barr knew of SVB risks before it failed

by admin
March 28, 2023
0

The Federal Reserve’s head of banking supervision mentioned Tuesday he was first made conscious of the...

New York is best off if Albany doesn’t agree on insane new spending

New York is best off if Albany doesn’t agree on insane new spending

March 28, 2023
Packers GM Brian Gutekunst: Aaron Rodgers ghosted us

Packers GM Brian Gutekunst: Aaron Rodgers ghosted us

March 28, 2023
Selena Gomez’s ‘Wizards of Waverly Place’ character could have been gay

Selena Gomez’s ‘Wizards of Waverly Place’ character could have been gay

March 28, 2023
Meta’s Zuckerberg slashes bonuses, steps up employee reviews

Meta’s Zuckerberg slashes bonuses, steps up employee reviews

March 28, 2023

© 2021 Newyork CT All Rights Reserved

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Health
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
  • Fashion
  • Tech

© 2021 Newyork CT All Rights Reserved