A Merger of Computing Companies
Twilio, a cloud computing company, revealed today that it is purchasing Segment, a customer data management company. The acquisition deal has been finalized, with the transaction expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2020 at a value of $3.2 billion in Twilio stock.
Twilio has identified the issue of “data silos,” where specific data, such as customer information, is either inaccessible or segregated by an external source, as a significant challenge. This fragmentation hampers their marketing efforts by limiting access to a comprehensive set of customer data. Twilio’s CEO, Jeff Lawson, believes that Segment’s technology will address these issues.
In the announcement of the acquisition, Lawson stated, “Data silos hinder exceptional customer experiences. Segment enables developers and businesses to dismantle these silos and construct a holistic view of their customers. When combined with Twilio’s Customer Engagement Platform, we can enhance personalized, timely, and impactful engagement across customer service, marketing, analytics, product, and sales. We are excited to welcome Segment to the Twilio family.”
Peter Reinhardt, co-founder and CEO of Segment, also expressed enthusiasm about the collaboration. “Together, Twilio and Segment have a tremendous opportunity to develop the customer engagement platform of the future,” Reinhardt commented. “We founded Segment to help companies differentiate themselves in the digital era and provide seamless, connected customer experiences based on high-quality data. By merging and leveraging our customer data platform with Twilio’s engagement cloud, we can ensure a seamless end-to-end customer experience.”
Following the acquisition news, Twilio’s stock prices surged by 2.5%, briefly reaching a record high of $322.68 per share. This marks the most recent in a series of stock surges for Twilio, which has witnessed a 211% increase in valuation over the past year.
