The News: Pivotal Group – a Phoenix-based private equity group – this week said it has acquired PGi’s webcasting division and will operate it under the GlobalMeet brand name. In a press release reporting the transaction, Pivotal said it purchased the unit for an “undisclosed 8-figure sum,” implying a purchase price of at least $10 million. See the full Press Release here.
Pivotal Group Buys the Webcasting Unit of PGi, Will Operate Under GlobalMeet Brand
Analyst Take: Pivotal Group’s acquisition of the webcasting unit of PGi, with plans to operate under the GlobalMeet brand marks the end of an almost-decade long effort by PGi – a one-time giant in the world of audio conferencing services – to drive revenue growth by offering corporate webcasting services and technologies.
In September 2014, PGi acquired New York-based TalkPoint, a vendor providing both managed services and licensed software solutions used mostly in support of outbound corporate marketing webcasts.
At the time of the acquisition, TalkPoint had been generating an estimated $18 million in annual revenue. The company experienced some successes operating as a unit of PGi and saw revenues increase during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, gains in the webcasting unit and its associated expansion into the market for virtual events during the COVID crisis never generated the level of growth needed to fully offset ongoing declines in PGi’s legacy audio conferencing business.
The investment made by Pivotal Group mimics other private equity investments in the streaming technology marketplace in recent years. In a business streaming market where many vendors are facing new competition and significant financial challenges, more technology providers appear to be evaluating M&A options than ever before.
Investment firm K1 has invested in streaming platform vendor Panopto with a stated goal of using it as a vehicle for consolidating acquisitions of related technology providers. Likewise, Clearhaven has invested in video tools developer Wowza with a similar M&A strategy in mind.
The Pivotal Group was founded by Francis Jajafi, who is part owner of the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association. Pivotal has invested in a range of technology companies, including SnapNurse, Network Solutions, NX Systems, Global Capacity and Megapath.
Pivotal Group executives were not immediately available for a briefing with our team at The Futurum Group, but it is not hard to envision Pivotal leveraging its new GlobalMeet holdings as an anchor for integrating other investments from the video technology space. Possible areas for meaningful investment and integration include AI-enhanced video content creation tools, platforms for streaming video behind corporate firewalls, and expanded software solutions that boost end-user engagement in virtual event venues.
While the industry profile of PGI’s webcasting unit has declined somewhat in recent years, The Futurum Group believes the business still generates enough activity to serve as an anchor point for an aggressive acquisition-driven roll-up of technology vendors from related segments.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
Other insights from The Futurum Group:
Wainhouse Releases Q4 Market SpotCheck for Group Video Conferencing Endpoints
Author Information
Steve Vonder Haar is a Senior Analyst with Wainhouse – a Futurum Group company. His area of expertise and focus is enterprise streaming and virtual events.
