Teleperformance USA has agreed to acquire the assets of Communications & Commerce, combining the two Salt Lake-based teleservices companies and more than doubling Teleperformance USA's size.
With the acquisition, Teleperformance USA adds 1,500 workers, including 1,300 agents, in Salt Lake City. Prior to the acquisition, it had about 1,000 employees in Salt Lake, Provo and Clearfield.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
"We're excited about it," said Dominic Dato, Teleperformance USA's founder and chief executive officer. "They have some great technology and people over there, and I think combining the two companies will really create a powerhouse in the industry."
Dato said the CommComm operations will remain in place, becoming a division that focuses on technology and financial services. Alan Truitt will remain as president and report to Teleperformance USA's chief operating officer.
Teleperformance USA will now handle more inbound calls. It previously had about 25 percent of its calls coming to its centers, and that will grow to about 40 percent with the CommComm acquisition.
Revenue is expected to grow from $150 million to $200 million annually.
"We do a lot of inbound now, and most of our worker clients are Fortune 500, blue-chip companies. This just allows us to expand our services by offering a bit more. They (CommComm) offer inbound service and more speech-to-text technology that interested us the most," Dato said. "It's a big, big move for us."
Teleperformance USA was founded in 1993. In addition to its Utah facilities, it has 35 call centers with more than 3,200 stations and 6,000 agents in the United States, Canada, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines and India. It is the fourth-largest inbound teleservices company in North America, serving companies in the financial, health-care, insurance, consumer packaged goods, technology, automotive and communications industries.
Its parent company is SR. Teleperformance, based in Paris.
A year ago, CommComm laid off about 900 Utah workers and closed its Murray facility in a dispute with VoiceStream Wireless. VoiceStream had filed a lawsuit against CommComm, saying it had violated agreements through various billing irregularities and "deficient" and "deteriorating" teleservices.
The 900 workers represented about 20 percent of CommComm's work force and handled VoiceStream Wireless calls. CommComm was founded in 1998.
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