Verizon buys video conferencing company BlueJeans

Verizon signed a deal Thursday to acquire BlueJeans, a business-focused video conferencing service that competes with Zoom and Microsoft Teams. Verizon said the platform will be "deeply integrated" into its 5G road map and will assist in areas such as telemedicine, distance learning and field service work.

With so many people working from home, it's no surprise a company like Verizon wants to build a bigger presence in video conferencing. After all, those types of apps have seen explosive growth since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Zoom, for example, recently revealed it had more than 200 million active daily users in March, up from its previous high of 10 million at the end of last year.

Talks between Verizon and BlueJeans reportedly began late last year. That was before either company could predict that a potentially lethal virus would force a national quarantine in the U.S. and other afflicted countries, making offices suddenly dependent on virtual-meeting software just to stay up and running.

Verizon said BlueJeans' founders and management team will remain with the company to continue to lead the platform's growth. BlueJeans' employees will also become part of Verizon. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, though some reports value the deal around $400 million.

Read more -here-

• X finally moves away from Twitter.com
• Apple's new accessibility features let you control an iPhone or iPad with your eyes
• Comcast unveils streaming bundle that includes Apple TV+, Peacock and Netflix
• John Deere says solar storm compromised GPS tracking on tractors
• Dell confirms database hacked - hacker says 49 million customers hit
• Google releases emergency fix for new Chrome zero-day flaw