Is a Polycom-Mitel Merger on the Horizon?

An interesting article on CRN – Mitel CEO Talks Possible Polycom-Mitel Merger, M&A Strategy – quotes Mitel CEO Richard McBee as stating that a shareholder with a large stake in both companies is pushing them to explore a merger.

I don’t as yet have an opinion about the end result of such a merger, but the concept of a union makes some sense when you consider:

• Both companies have suffered from lackluster financial results  (Mitel/Polycom)
• It makes sense for Polycom to be aligned with a platform provider such as Mitel given that:
  • Both companies invested heavily in video, and are suffering from flagging interest in video conferencing gateway solutions (Vidtel veteran Scott Wharton believes that the market for video conferencing has moved past dedicated gear and is all about OTT apps running on COTS hardware)
  • Industry observers continue to herald the death of the deskphone
• Privately held Yealink continues to eat into Polycom’s market share with successful copycat products at lower price points

Food for thought…