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5 Thoughts: Virgin Pulse Acquisition Marks a Major Move in Employee Wellness

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Virgin Pulse made a major move last week when it acquired two of its competitors, ShapeUp and Global Corporate Challenge. Starr Conspiracy Practice Leader Lance Haun has five thoughts on the acquisitions.

  1. This is big. Wellness doesn’t have a true dominant player in the category like other areas of the HCM landscape. This is a direct play to be the leader in the category, and competitors should take this as a shot across their bow.
  2. Virgin Pulse already had one of the most complete wellness solutions in the market. Post-acquisition, other companies will have to play catch-up even more now.
  3. Virgin Pulse is understating the size of the overall engagement market by a significant margin. In our upcoming Brandscape on the engagement category, I think people will be surprised by the opportunity deals like this open up for companies like Virgin Pulse.
  4. I see continued consolidation in this category. Niche players will have to find a home under one of the bigger wellness technologies.
  5. If you’re Virgin Pulse and you’re worried about Fitbit coming into your category and dedicating a lot of resources to expanding its wellness stake, this is a nice move to show what a complete solution can look like.

What are your thoughts? Did Lance miss anything? Did he hit the nail on the head? Let us know in the comments.

Read more about the acquisition here. Follow Lance on Twitter here