SAN JOSE, CA and SANTA CLARA, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- March 15, 2007 -- Cisco (
NASDAQ:
CSCO) and
WebEx today announced a definitive agreement for Cisco to acquire WebEx.
WebEx is a market leader in on-demand collaboration applications, and its
network-based solution for delivering business-to-business collaboration
extends Cisco's vision for Unified Communications, particularly within the
Small to Medium Business (SMB) segment.
Under the terms of the agreement, Cisco will commence a cash tender offer
to purchase all of the outstanding shares of WebEx for $57 per share and
will assume outstanding share-based awards, for an aggregate purchase price
of approximately $3.2 billion, or approximately $2.9 billion net of WebEx's
existing cash balance. The transaction will be accounted for in accordance
with generally accepted accounting principles, and the acquisition of WebEx
is expected to close in the fourth quarter of Cisco's fiscal year 2007.
Cisco anticipates this transaction will be neutral to its non-GAAP FY2008
earnings.
The acquisition has been approved by the board of directors of each company
and is subject to various standard closing conditions, including approval
under Hart Scott Rodino and similar laws outside the U.S.
"As collaboration in the workplace becomes increasingly important,
companies are looking for rich communications tools to help them work more
effectively and efficiently," said Charles H. Giancarlo, Chief Development
Officer at Cisco. "The combination of Cisco and WebEx will deliver
compelling solutions accelerating this next wave of business
communications.
Cisco believes the network is a platform for all forms of communications
and collaboration, and WebEx's technology and services portfolio complement
Cisco's leadership in the Unified Communications and collaboration market,
while providing Cisco with a new and unique business model to expand its
presence in the fast-growing SMB market," Giancarlo continued.
"Cisco and WebEx share a vision of web collaboration as a key to
accelerating business processes and critical to durable competitive
advantage," said Subrah S. Iyar, CEO of WebEx. "Cisco's global reach and
customer focus will help us extend our core web collaboration applications
and continue to broaden the services we offer through the WebEx Connect
platform."
WebEx's service portfolio includes technologies and services that allow
companies to engage in real-time and asynchronous data conferences over the
Internet as well as share web-based documents and workspaces that help
improve productivity, performance and efficiency of workers in any size
organization. WebEx's subscription-based services strategy has been key to
its success, and Cisco plans to preserve this business model going forward.
Following the close of the transaction, WebEx will become a part of Cisco's
Development Organization while maintaining its unique business model. Mr.
Iyar will report directly to Mr.Giancarlo.
WebEx was founded in 1995 and held its Initial Public Offering (IPO) in
July 2000. The company has close to 2200 employees. For FY2006, which
ended December 31, 2006, WebEx reported revenues of $380 million.
Editor's Note:
-- A conference call with Cisco Chief Development Officer Charles
Giancarlo and WebEx CEO Subrah Iyar to discuss Cisco's acquisition of WebEx
will be held at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, March 15, 2007. The
dial-in number is 1-888-989-6518 (United States); 212-287-1617
(international); corresponding slides and a webcast will be available at
www.cisco.com/go/investors.
-- A replay of the Cisco/WebEx conference call will be available from
11:30 a.m. Eastern Time on March 15, 2007, until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on
Thursday, March 22, 2007. The dial-in number is 1-866-430-8796 (United
States); 203-369-0942 (international).
-- Additional information regarding the acquisition will be available at
http://newsroom.cisco.com.
About Cisco
Cisco (
NASDAQ:
CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms
how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco
can be found at
http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to
http://newsroom.cisco.com.
About WebEx
With 2.2 million registered users, WebEx (
NASDAQ:
WEBX) is the global
leader in on-demand applications for collaborative business on the web.
These applications enhance high-touch business processes, such as sales and
training, with efficient web-touch interactions. As an on-demand provider,
WebEx is able to facilitate both internal and external collaboration.
WebEx delivers its range of applications over the WebEx MediaTone Network,
a global network specifically designed for the secure delivery of on-demand
applications. WebEx applications support multipoint videoconferencing, web
conferencing and application remote control. WebEx is based in Santa Clara,
California and has regional headquarters in Europe, Asia and Australia.
Please call toll free 877-509-3239 or visit
www.WebEx.com for more
information.
Cisco, Cisco Systems, Linksys and the Cisco Systems logo are registered
trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and
certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document
are the property of their respective owners.
WebEx and the WebEx logo are registered trademarks of WebEx.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains projections and other forward-looking
statements regarding expected performance of Cisco following completion of
the acquisition, including statements related to Cisco's product and
service offerings and the future of the network and communications markets.
Statement regarding future events are based on the parties' current
expectations and are necessarily subject to associated risks related to,
among other things, obtaining a sufficient number of tendered shares of
common stock and regulatory approval of the merger, the potential impact on
the business of WebEx due to the uncertainty about the acquisition, the
retention of employees of WebEx and the ability of Cisco to successfully
integrate WebEx and to achieve expected benefits. Actual results may differ
materially from those in the projections or other forward-looking
statements. For information regarding other related risks, please see the
"Risk Factors" section of Cisco's filings with the SEC, including its most
recent filings on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q.
Securities Law Disclosure
The tender offer for the outstanding common stock of WebEx has not yet
commenced. This press release is for informational purposes only and is not
an offer to buy or the solicitation of an offer to sell any securities. The
solicitation and the offer to buy shares of WebEx common stock will be made
only pursuant to an offer to purchase and related materials that Cisco
Systems, Inc. intends to file with the SEC on Schedule TO. WebEx also
intends to file a solicitation/recommendation statement on Schedule 14D-9
with respect to the offer. WebEx stockholders and other investors should
read these materials carefully because they contain important information,
including the terms and conditions of the offer. WebEx stockholders and
other investors will be able to obtain copies of these materials without
charge from the SEC through the SEC's website at
www.sec.gov, from
Georgeson Inc., the information agent for the offer,
toll-free at (888) 264-7052 (banks and brokers call (212) 440-9800), from
Cisco (with respect to documents filed by Cisco with the SEC) by going to
Cisco's Investor Relations Website at
http://www.cisco.com/go/investors, or
from WebEx (with respect to documents filed by WebEx with the SEC) by going
to WebEx's Investor Relations Website at
www.WebEx.com. Stockholders and
other investors are urged to read carefully those materials prior to making
any decisions with respect to the offer.
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Contact Information: Press Contacts:
John Noh
Cisco
(408) 853 8445
jnoh@cisco.com
Investor Relations Contact:
Laura Graves
Cisco
(408) 526-6521
lagraves@cisco.com
Colin Smith
WebEx
(408) 566-5694
colin.smith@webex.com
Industry Analyst Relations Contact:
Skip MacAskill
Cisco
(408) 525-1583
smacaski@cisco.com