Finimize - 🙏 Please buy Zendesk

Hi Reader, here's what you need to know for June 27th in 3:11 minutes.

💸 If you’re a Finimize Premium member, do we have a deal for you: refer a friend, a dad, a neighbor, or even that guy who sniffs handles on the subway to Finimize Premium. They’ll get 50% off Finimize for a year, and you’ll get $30 in cash. Plus, you’ll be entered into a draw to win a lifetime subscription. Just share this link with them on mobile: https://app.finimize.com/links/refer

Today's big stories

Software company Zendesk is going to be bought out for $10 billion
Stop the presses: our analyst has finally found something worth buying – Read Now
FedEx’s quarterly earnings were stronger than expected, even if deliveries have taken a nosedive

Icarus Effect

What’s Going On Here?

Customer service software company Zendesk finally agreed to be bought out for $10 billion on Friday.

What Does This Mean?

Zendesk has been getting on investors’ last nerve lately. First, a $4 billion agreement to buy SurveyMonkey-owner Momentive Global late last year was met with derision, and Zendesk’s stock subsequently plunged. That forced the company to drop the deal altogether in February. Then, that same month, a group of private equity (PE) firms offered to buy out the company for $17 billion, but Zendesk refused on the grounds that the bid was too low. Again, investors weren’t happy. And even though the company did then reach out to nearly 30 prospective buyers, it was hardly likely to find a better offer with tech valuations tumbling.

After all that, Zendesk announced on Friday that it had agreed to be bought out by a group of private equity (PE) firms – among them Permira – for $10 billion. That’s around 34% more than it was worth before the deal was announced, but around 41% less than if it had accepted the first offer…

Why Should I Care?

The bigger picture: Let’s call the whole thing off.
Zendesk embarked on this saga mostly because activist investor Jana Partners has been pushing hard for change at the company, even holding talks to replace the CEO earlier this month. Failing that, Jana was just keen to get a quick and dirty sale. That way, investors who have consistently been less than satisfied with the company could at least get a return on their investment.

Zooming out: Taboo in Japan.
Activist investors have also been putting pressure on Japanese conglomerate Toshiba, which is reportedly fielding offers of as much as $22 billion to take the company private. That’s particularly notable given that PE firms generally aren’t well-received in Japan. So if those investors are able to close the deal, it would be the biggest they’ve ever pulled off in the country.

You might also like: How to work out what Zendesk is really worth.

Copy to share story: https://www.finimize.com/wp/news/icarus-effect/

🙋 Ask a question

Analyst Take

Finally, Something Worth Buying!

Reda Farran, Analyst

What’s Going On Here?

It’s no secret that markets across the board have been slumping.

Wherever you’ve been putting your money – crypto, stocks, bonds – you’ve almost certainly been looking high and low to find any hint of a return.

So when one tried-and-tested indicator starts flashing a screaming buy signal, you might want to sit up and pay attention.

That’s today’s Insight: which asset is worth buying, and why.

Read or listen to the Insight here

Your portal to the cryptoverse

Bitcoin.com is a go-to spot for crypto beginners who want to buy, sell or learn about crypto.

So it only seems right that Bitcoin.com – which is trusted with over 30 million digital wallets – is launching its own native utility token: Verse

Utility tokens were among the most traded cryptocurrencies over the last year, and this one’s already off to a strong start: Bitcoin.com just finished a $33.6 million private sale of Verse.

Verse is set to help power the Bitcoin.com ecosystem that’s used by millions around the globe, and you can find out more about what this demand means for Verse in its whitepaper.

You’re best getting pre-approved before limited Verse tokens go on sale, so get whitelisted today.

Discover Verse

The Verse token sale is not available in the US and other restricted jurisdictions.