I'm not the first to break the news, but it is big news nonetheless and worthy enough to comment on.
Taleo buys Vurv for $128 million. Wow. There have been smaller talent management mergers/acquisitions in the past few years, but nothing like one big kid on the block eating another.
A client of ours in the space said, “They’re buying sales. Shareholders putting on the full-court press. Maybe hitting a ceiling on organic growth.”
Maybe (although their sales were up 30% in Q1, and they had a small bump in trading after the announcement, but their back down at $19 and change).
Taleo and other large firms continue to battle for a supposed limited number of enterprise-level organizations while diving down into the SMB, non-profits and other industries.
We’ll see how well they integrate Vurv’s technology and support their customers. If Taleo can pull it off, they’ll be a TM beast to be reckoned with. It still remains to be seen with other firms with recent acquisitions like Kronos, Kenexa and ADP.
In the meantime the other players needs to jump all over this and scramble for more market share; there will be some dissatisfied Taleo and Vurv customers jumping ship. Plus, there are lots of companies out there that have only just begun to ask the question:
“How the heck do I automate my recruitment and onboarding?”
Good luck to them all.
Posted by Kevin GrossmanLabels: Acquisition, talent management, Taleo, Vurv
