ZEN said on Friday that it will be acquired for $77.50 per share in cash, or $10.2 billion. The price of the shares jumped about 29% to $74.52. Before the formal announcement, the stock had already gained more than 50% in the premarket trading session.
The price reflects a 34% increase over Thursday’s closing value. The value of Zendesk’s stock is estimated at around $7 billion.
The reported late Thursday that a collection of buyout companies was in discussions to acquire the supplier of cloud-based customer support software.
Activist investor Jana Partners has been in negotiations with Zendesk, according to the Journal, and a possible outcome is the company’s CEO being forced to resign. That deal’s impact on ongoing negotiations was not immediately clear, according to the Journal.
A JMP Securities analyst called Zendesk “an interesting acquisition target since it is a platform, global, multi-product, and 100 percent cloud,” before the transaction was disclosed.
After the purchase was finalized, Walravens maintained its Market Outperform rating and $193 price objective on Zendesk shares.
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