Premiere Global Services issued a press release today announcing that they spent about $19 million to acquire a web-based conferencing services provider. But they wouldn't say what company they acquired. Maybe the MBA's out there can advise me, but isn't that a little strange for a publicly traded company? A $19 million acquisition should be a significant financial event that deserves disclosure to the stockholders and potential investors, right? The acquired company is stated to have an annualized revenue run rate of $10 million, and Premiere says that it will boost their 2008 earnings. How the heck do you keep the name of your acquisition a secret through all of that? WHY would you keep the name of your acquisition a secret while announcing the deal itself? Is that even legal? And what conferencing solutions provider just got gobbled up?
I will find out. Somehow.
UPDATE: The Conferencing News gang quotes an Elliot Gold newsletter as guessing the acquisition must be Budget Conferencing. I'm working on getting some kind of comment from a Premiere person, but no luck so far. My favorite wrong guess was iLinc, which has revenues and market capitalization roughly (but only roughly) equivalent to the figures quoted in the press release. It still looks to me like they are ripe for a buy-out!
SECOND UPDATE: Premiere sent me an email stating that they will publicly announce the acquiree on their earnings call this Thursday the 26th. I quote: "It is an audio conferencing provider that sells through an online channel versus a direct sales force. They do not have a web conferencing solution of their own." Well heck... I'll leave this to the teleconferencing experts at Conferencing News. It ain't my subject area!
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