HP buys Poly for $3.3 billion to ride hybrid work boom

HP has acquired Poly for $3.3 billion in an all-cash transaction deal to accelerate its growth strategy and creates leading portfolio of hybrid work solutions. Poly, which recently rebranded from Plantronics to reflect its dual Plantronics and Polycom heritage, is a leading provider of workplace collaboration and video conferencing solutions, cameras, headsets, voice, and software.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of calendar 2022, subject to Poly stockholder approval, and required regulatory clearances. In a news statement, HP said the acquisition will strengthen its industry opportunity in hybrid work solutions, and positions the company for long-term sustainable growth and value creation.

“The rise of the hybrid office creates a once-in-a-generation opportunity to redefine the way work gets done,” said Enrique Lores, President and CEO of HP. “Combining HP and Poly creates a leading portfolio of hybrid work solutions across large and growing markets. Poly’s strong technology, complementary go-to-market, and talented team will help to drive long-term profitable growth as we continue building a stronger HP.”

The rise of hybrid work is creating a sustained demand for technology that enables seamless collaboration across home and office environments. Approximately 75% of office workers are investing to improve their home setups to support new ways of working1. Traditional office spaces are also being reconfigured to support hybrid work and collaboration, with a focus on meeting room solutions. Currently, there are more than 90 million rooms, of which less than 10% have video capability2. As a result, the office meeting room solutions segment is expected to triple by 2024.

Dave Shull, Poly CEO and President, added: “I am thrilled about the opportunity this represents for Poly, our employees, partners, and customers. The combination gives us an opportunity to dramatically scale, reaching new markets and channels, supercharging our innovation with a like-minded partner. This transaction offers compelling and certain value for our shareholders and speaks to the hard work done by our teams to become a recognized leader in helping businesses everywhere meet the challenges of a generational disruption in the way people work.”

In a more hybrid world, cloud platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams will play an important role in innovating new experiences. Eric Yuan, Founder and CEO of Zoom added, “Highest quality audio and video has become an essential component of work across every industry, whether in an office, at home, or on the go. Bringing the Poly and HP offerings together will unlock new opportunities to partner with Zoom and turn any space into a hub for dynamic video collaboration.”

Poly will help drive the growth and scale of HP’s peripherals and workforce solutions businesses. Peripherals represent a $110 billion segment opportunity growing 9% annually, driven by the need for more immersive experiences. Workforce solutions represent a $120 billion segment opportunity that is growing 8% annually, as companies invest in digital services to set up, manage, and secure more distributed IT ecosystems. Poly’s devices, software, and services, combined with HP’s strengths across compute, device management, and security, create a robust portfolio of hybrid meeting solutions.

Poly is a leader in video conferencing solutions, cameras, headsets, voice, and software. Together, HP and Poly will deliver a complete ecosystem of devices, software, and digital services to create premium employee experiences, improve workforce productivity, and provide enterprise customers with better visibility, insights, security, and manageability across their hybrid IT environments.