Salesforce reportedly close to deal for Informatica

Update: Published reports indicate Salesforce and Informatica were unable to agree on terms of an acquisition.

Salesforce is in advanced talks to buy Informatica, according to published reports. 

Informatica helps companies — including Toyota, Unilever and Deloitte —  manage data across cloud and on-premise systems. It has a market cap of more than $11 billion and last year debuted Claire GPT, a generative AI tool to help companies handle data.

Informatica, founded in 1993, offers subscription-based data management services and helps automate tasks for more than 5,000 active customers, according to its website. It was taken private in 2015 for about $5.3 billion by a consortium that included Permira and CPPIB. Informatica went public again in 2021. 

Why we care. The deal would add to Salesforce’s cornucopia of abilities, arming it with powerful data managing tools and more AI technology.

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The deal would be Salesforce’s largest since it bought Slack in 2021 for $28 billion. It would also mark a return to form for the company, once known for its acquisitions. If the Informatica deal goes through, it would be the 75th business purchased by Salesforce. 

Early last year several significant investors, including ValueAct Capital and Elliott Management, questioned whether all the acquisitions were good for stock value and pushed for changes. In response, Salesforce laid off 10% of its workforce, increased share buybacks and disbanded its M&A board committee. Salesforce stock fell Monday following the Informatica reports.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has been praising Salesforce Data Cloud as an incredible new product.

Benioff said Salesforce added a thousand new Data Cloud customers over the quarter and called that business “the cherry at the top of the cake.” The company’s Data Cloud revenue was up 22% from the previous year. According to Benioff, companies are realizing they need proper data management to effectively bring AI into their businesses.

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If there’s any substance to the Informatica rumors, perhaps Salesforce still needs help managing data.

Neither company has publicly said anything about a possible deal.