Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is considering acquiring Boston-based HubSpot, an online marketing automation and CRM startup with a market valuation of over $33 billion.
The acquisition has yet to be publicly confirmed or denied by any of the company’s spokespersons; however, reputable sources are discussing the potential acquisition.
Should Alphabet proceed with its offer, it would be a unique instance of a significant technology giant trying a massive acquisition amid increased regulatory scrutiny of the industry under U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration.
The Boston-based company was cofounded by Brian Halligan, Dharmesh Shah, and Evan DiLeo in 2006.
HubSpot creates inbound marketing software that runs on the cloud and enables companies to revolutionise their online advertising. Its service offerings include social media publishing and monitoring, blogging, SEO, email marketing, website content management, marketing automation, reporting, and analytics.
In the event that a deal of this kind materialised, it would probably come at a high cost, with a sizable premium over the market value.
It would have to be to persuade the business to sell and join the massive search engine.
It is noteworthy that the two businesses already have a relationship, namely a partnership to leverage Google advertisements to promote sales in HubSpot.
These kinds of discussions can occasionally lead to an acquisition.
The sources stated that Alphabet has recently met with investment bankers from Morgan Stanley (MS.N) to discuss a possible acquisition of HubSpot.
According to the sources, it has been debated whether antitrust authorities would approve of such a partnership and how much it should offer.
According to individuals who asked to remain anonymous to discuss private discussions, Alphabet has not yet made an offer to HubSpot, and there is no guarantee that it will.
“As standard practice, HubSpot does not comment on rumours or speculation. We continue to focus on building a great business and serving our customers,” a HubSpot spokesperson said.
We earlier reported that Yahoo has announced the acquisition of Artifact, an AI-powered news app from Instagram’s co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger.
