Green Wednesday – VoIP mergers and acquisitions of 2008
We were going to call this piece "Black Friday," as a reference to the day after Thanksgiving, when throngs of holiday shoppers descend upon malls to snap up hot bargains.
Instead, we went with a lighter, more cheery spin to recap the past year of company acquisitions and to take a look at what might happen for the rest of 2008 and the first half of 2009.
Certainly, this is a buyer's market, IF the buyer has A) cash and/or B) a solid stock to offer up in a merger. The brutal last few months on the stock markets have battered valuations downward of all companies great and small - but the small don't typically offer dividends and have billions of dollars worth of assets or reliable cash flow.
Adding to the chaos is the pullback of asset divesture by larger phone companies. Cable & Wireless has put the "de-merger" of its divisions on hold, and Sprint is holding on to Nextel while it weathers the storm. When bigger companies batten the hatches, it only contributes to a turbulent atmosphere.
Privately-held companies not generating sufficient revenues to cover expenses have their backs against the door, unless they've recently (within the last 6 months) secured a substantial venture round. Any appearance of looking weak and the sharks, er buyers, will smell blood and try to get the best deal possible - the apparent fate of Jangl.
In the following pages, you'll find who's been buying, who we expect to buy, who we expect to be bought, best buys of the year and some future-looking trends for 2009. And even as we were putting the finishing touches on this report, we came across another deal (Thank you Citrix) to wedge in at the last minute.
- Doug
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