Zoom bets billions on home working continuing in Five9 deal

Video conferencing firm Zoom has struck a multibillion dollar deal to buy a cloud-based call centre operator in a bet on the future of hybrid working.

The firm announced the $14.7bn (£10.7bn) acquisition of Five9 in a blog post on Sunday.

Zoom boss Eric Yuan said the deal would allow its customers to “reimagine the way they do business”.

It marks the firm’s biggest takeover, and comes even though staff are beginning to return to the office.

Investors have been watching for clues as to how the firm would fare as social distancing restrictions lift and more people are vaccinated.

The pandemic, which prompted an abrupt shift to remote work for many businesses around the world, transformed Zoom into a household name practically overnight.

Zoom has said it does not expect growth to continue at the pace it enjoyed last year, but so far business remains strong.

The company expects sales to rise more than 40% this year, reaching more than $3.7bn (£2.66bn).

In the last three months of 2020, sales were up 370% compared to the same period in 2019, hitting $882.5m, it said in March.