Customer relationship manager (CRM) dominator Salesforce acquires Tableau, a visualisation software provider, in a deal worth $15.7bn (£13.63bn).
The announcement was made in a Salesforce press release today after the initial mention of a possible merger in June.
The deal is going to be made through an all-stock transaction, in which Tableau Class A and Class B common stock will be exchanged for 1.103 shares of Salesforce common stock.
The deal gives Tableau an enterprise value of $15.7bn (£13.63bn) while it’s also Salesforce’s biggest acquisition to date.
Marc Benioff, Chairman, and co-CEO of Salesforce speaking on the acquisition said “We are bringing together the world’s number one CRM with the number one analytics platform. Tableau helps people see and understand data, and Salesforce helps people engage and understand customers. It’s truly the best of both worlds for our customers — bringing together two critical platforms that every customer needs to understand their world.”
The acquisition of Tableau gives Salesforce access to the analytics and data visualisation specialists customer base of over 86,000 worldwide and shows the cloud giants increased focus within analytics and diversification beyond its core offering of CRM.
It’s becoming quite a trend for companies to be acquiring analytics firms recently with Google acquiring enterprise intelligence and analytics firm Looker for $2.6 billion (£1.98bn) last week in a strategy to bolster Google Cloud’s digital transformation service offerings.
Salesforce acquires Tableau after only purchasing the cloud integration platform MuleSoft last year.
This now gives Salesforce access to a wide range of data whether on-premises or in the cloud and with Tableau it will now enable customers to bring this data to life by being able to visualise it and give better answers and understanding of what the selected data means.
Tableau will become part of Salesforce, however, will still operate independently under their Tableau brand with Adam Selipsky, President and CEO of Tableau, continuing at the helm to lead the company from Seattle, Washington.
Selipsky expressed his excitement on the merger by saying: “Joining forces with Salesforce will enhance our ability to help people everywhere see and understand data. I’m delighted that our companies share very similar cultures and a relentless focus on customer success. I look forward to working together in support of our customers and communities.”
The transaction has been approved by both the company’s board of directors and it is expected for the acquisition to close during Salesforces’ third-quarter providing it gets regulatory approval.
