Verizon to Buy Teleconferencing Company BlueJeans

Verizon Company has achieved an arrangement to purchase the online video conferencing platform BlueJeans Network.

The organizations did not disclose money terms, but a spokesperson for Verizon reported the enterprise would shell out less than $five hundred million. CNBC described Verizon would shell out about $400 million.

The announcement will come as videoconferencing use has spiked as enterprises and universities shift meetings on line to meet up with social-distancing demands for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic. BlueJeans has mostly been a business-to-business platform.

“As the way we do the job proceeds to change, it is totally critical for enterprises and community sector consumers to have obtain to a in depth suite of choices that are organization completely ready, secure, frictionless, and that integrate with current tools,” Verizon Company Main Executive Officer Tami Erwin reported in a statement.

A spokesperson for BlueJeans reported the enterprise has about fifteen,000 consumers, including Facebook, LinkedIn, RedHat, and Disney.

In an job interview, Verizon Communications CEO Hans Vestberg reported the enterprise observed an possibility to contend with Zoom, which just lately observed its platform bounce from ten million each day assembly contributors in December to 200 million in March.

“We see an possibility with our distribution channel,” he reported.

Vestberg reported the BlueJeans teleconferencing tool would be developed into Verizon’s 5G presenting.

“The platform will be deeply built-in into Verizon’s 5G product roadmap, providing secure and serious-time engagement methods for superior progress regions these types of as telemedicine, length finding out, and discipline provider do the job,” Verizon reported.

BlueJeans was started about 10 decades ago and has raised $one hundred seventy five million, according to Crunchbase.

According to the statement, BlueJeans founders and vital administration will sign up for Verizon and workforce will turn into Verizon workforce upon closing of the deal.

5GBlueJeans, teleconference, Verizon