With its now-closed acquisition of Virginia-based WillowTree, Canadian firm Telus International (NYSE: TIXT) has bullish plans to grow the staff by tenfold – which would include hiring in Central Ohio.
The $1.2 billion deal was announced in October. At the time, WillowTree CEO Tobias Dengel said to expect growth – but Telus International CEO Jeff Puritt is even more bullish.
Employment growth across the WillowTree organization could be in the thousands in the next few years, Puritt said in an interview after the deal officially closed this month.
WillowTree has about 150 employees in or near Ohio, a spokeswoman said. Overall Telus International adds some 1,100 workers with the acquisition. Other offices are in Charlottesville, Virginia; Durham, North Carolina; Boston; New York City and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
“My ambition is to see if we can’t grow it to 10,000 people as fast as we can,” Puritt said.
“Literally, without exception, every single acquisition we’ve made has culminated in significant incremental growth," he said. "Our ambition with the WillowTree transaction is no different.”
Telus International, part of Vancouver-based multinational holding company Telus Corp. (NYSE: TU), designs, builds and delivers next-generation solutions in areas such as artificial intelligence and content moderation. App builder WillowTree adds front-end design and build competencies to its product suite.
For example, Telus International grew an acquisition in Latin America to some 15,000 jobs from 1,350, and a company it added in the Philippines grew from 1,500 people to 26,000.
Puritt said the possibility of a recession in 2023 will not derail the plan. Telus International is about 18 years old and has a history of thriving in downturns, he said.
As clients look for ways to “do more with less,” they turn to Telus, he said.
Charlottesville, Virginia-based WillowTree acquired the former Dynamit, 274 Marconi Blvd. in the Arena District, in November 2019.
In a letter to the team, Dengel called the buyout the start of “our next chapter.”
“By joining forces with Telus International, we now have the expertise and global scale to delight customers at every point of the customer experience value chain,” he said in the letter. “There are no missing links. How many other companies can make that claim? I could not be more bullish on our combined future together.”
It’s the tenth acquisition for Telus International since 2005.
Telus International reported its third quarter results in November. It reported $615 million in quarterly revenue, up 11% year-over-year.
