Twilio To Buy ZipWhip For About $850 Mln.

(RTTNews) - Twilio Inc. (TWLO) Monday announced its plan to acquire business-texting platform ZipWhip for about $850 million in cash and stock.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2021. The company said ZipWhip will become a part of its Messaging Business Unit.

Moving ahead, Twilio reiterated its second-quarter revenue guidance of $591 million to $601 million. The company noted that revenues would not be affected by the deal. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters currently expect revenues of $599.59 million.

Twilio also expects the deal to be modestly accretive to Twilio's gross margin and revenue.

"Messaging is becoming a preferred way for consumers to engage with brands, therefore it's critical to provide multiple messaging options," said Simon Khalaf, SVP and general manager of the Twilio Communications Platform. "By bringing together the world's leading cloud communications platform and a trusted partner in the messaging ecosystem, we have the ability to deliver more secure, high-quality toll-free traffic at scale. We are thrilled to welcome Zipwhip to the Twilio team as we continue our journey to become the world's leading customer engagement platform trusted by developers and companies globally."