Microsoft is believed to be mulling a potential acquisition of cloud CRM player Salesforce.com, which is worth US$50bn. At least two other tech giants are also believed to be interested in buying Marc Benioff’s company.
It is understood that Salesforce.com is working with two investment banks to determine a response to approaches.
While no talks have taken place between Microsoft and Salesforce.com, it is understood another company, possibly Oracle or SAP, has been talking with Salesforce.
Shares in Salesforce.com climbed 1.6pc to US$72.75 in trading last night.
Founded in 1999 by Marc Benioff, Dave Moellenhoff, Frank Dominguez and Parker Harris, Salesforce.com is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and has a market capitalisation of more than US$50bn.
The company’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform is used by more than 100,000 businesses worldwide.
There are only a handful of tech businesses with the cash reserves to splurge US$50bn on Salesforce.com and realise any synergies. These include Microsoft, SAP, Cisco and IBM. While Apple has close to US$200bn in its war chest and has been wading into the enterprise through a partnership with IBM, business software has never been in the Cupertino tech giant’s interests.
Salesforce image via Shutterstock via Shutterstock
