Zendesk Acquisition Complete, Following Staff Layoffs

US-based customer experience (CX) specialist Zendesk has announced that its acquisition by an investor group has been completed. This follows recent news that Zendesk had made 5% of its workforce redundant.

Zendesk helps clients take their customer service online, and offers a platform connecting brands with their customers through media from chat, e-mail and social media to telephone and help centers. In September, the firm launched new AI solutions called 'Intelligent Triage' and 'Smart Assist', to help clients understand intent and sentiment through account-specific, data-driven models, which are customized for individual use cases.

Earlier this year, Zendesk shareholders rejected the firm's proposed acquisition of Momentive, parent of SurveyMonkey, after which Zendesk itself agreed to be acquired by a consortium led by Hellman & Friedman and Permira in a $10 billion deal.

Confirmation of the takeover comes less than a month after Zendesk announced that it had made the 'tough decision' to reduce its global workforce by approximately 5%. At the time, Zendesk explained in a statement: 'We are confident that Hellman & Friedman and Permira will accelerate us into a new, positive chapter for our business. Realistically, that will take time and requires us to pull back from the ways we have previously invested in hiring growth. We grew our team much faster than we should have based on revenue growth expectations that were not pragmatic - as an executive team we take responsibility for that'.

Web site: www.zendesk.com .