According to a Reuters report, Alphabet—Google's parent company—is currently attempting to purchase HubSpot, an online marketing software company valued at $35 billion (about 32.292 billion euros).

If Alphabet decides to proceed with the bid, it would mark a rare occurrence of a major technology firm attempting a mega-deal amid the regulatory scrutiny facing the sector, especially under the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden. 

The potential acquisition would be the largest in Alphabet's history. It would allow it to tap into some of its cash reserves, which reached $110.9 billion (about €102.324 billion) at the end of December.

According to information published by the news agency, Alphabet has held talks with Morgan Stanley investment bankers in recent days about the feasibility and implications of a bid for HubSpot. In particular, financial details have been discussed, and the possibility of antitrust authorities approving such a transaction has been evaluated.

At the moment, Alphabet still needs to submit a formal bid for HubSpot and, according to sources close to the matter, there is no certainty that it will do so. "As standard practice, HubSpot does not comment on rumors or speculation. Our focus remains on building a strong business and meeting the needs of our customers," a HubSpot spokesperson stressed. Alphabet and Morgan Stanley have yet to respond to requests for comment.

HubSpot shares rallied 11%

HubSpot shares rallied by 11% to $693 (€639.4) on Thursday due to the potential buyout, while Alphabet shares saw a slight 1% decline, closing at $153.34 (about €142).

HubSpot, publicly traded since 2014, offers marketing software to companies, generally with up to 2,000 employees. Despite posting a loss of $176.3 million (about €163 million) in 2023, the company generated revenues of $2 billion (€1,845.4 million), which has generated excitement among investors and boosted its share price by 50% in the past 12 months.

Regardless of this operation result, Google is currently facing several antitrust actions, including a landmark lawsuit accusing it of abusing its position as an online search leader. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai is looking for avenues to boost growth after the company revealed last January that fourth-quarter ad sales came in below expectations.

According to Dealogic data, the technology sector was a leading player in M&A during the first quarter of the year, with growth of more than 42% year-on-year to $154 billion (about €142,056.5 million).

The post Alphabet is attempting to purchase HubSpot appeared first on Cross-Border Magazine.

The CRM platform HubSpot has announced the launch of its CMS tools completely free of charge. This content management system will allow entrepreneurs to create free websites, landing pages and basic e-commerce marketing tools. 

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HubSpot promises that the whole process will be quick and secure and reliable, and will produce websites with suficiente quality to boost any business growth.

HubSpot's free CMS can set up a website with 25 pages and a blog of up to 100 posts, also can grant full code access for users that employ a web developer, as well as drag-and-drop editors and free themes for those that don't.

The free package also gives marketers new abilities to integrate basic websites with CRM data and perform rudimentary marketing automation tasks that were formerly only available to paid subscribers. Those include actions such as triggering emails after a customer fills out a form or other actions that are key to advancing the customer journey for the user. Also newly available are custom domains and premium hosting.

HubSpot web analytics 

HubSpot's free web CMS package includes access to features such as web analytics. This includes viewing traffic by source, topic cluster, device type, country, and more. 

If you have an external site, ensure you install the tracking code to your site to begin tracking your traffic in HubSpot.

The post HubSpot launches a free CMS! appeared first on Cross-Border Magazine.