Salesforce Acquisitions: A Look at Their 6 Biggest Deals

Reports surfaced last Thursday suggesting Salesforce’s interest in acquiring Slack. This morning, CNBC reported that the agreement is nearly finalized and an announcement is expected tomorrow. The transaction is likely to be substantial, but it wouldn’t represent Salesforce’s initial large-scale acquisition.

Salesforce has already exceeded $20 billion in yearly revenue, and the company consistently pursues acquisitions to enhance its product offerings and expand its market presence as it strives for continued revenue growth.

To date, the largest acquisition made by Salesforce was the $15.7 billion purchase of Tableau last year. This deal provided Salesforce with essential data visualization capabilities and access to Tableau’s extensive existing customer base, contributing to increased revenue. In a discussion with TechCrunch in August, Salesforce president and chief operating officer Bret Taylor (who joined the company through the $750 million acquisition of Quip in 2016) highlighted Tableau’s significance to the company’s ongoing success:

The next significant acquisition for Salesforce was MuleSoft, secured in 2018 for $6.5 billion. MuleSoft provided Salesforce with access to data previously isolated in silos, even within on-premise applications. This allowed the CRM leader to leverage data regardless of its location, and when combined with the Tableau acquisition, it enabled enhanced data visualization and strengthened its Einstein artificial intelligence platform.

In 2016, Salesforce invested $2.8 billion in Demandware to establish a strong foothold in the e-commerce sector, an area that has become increasingly important, particularly during the pandemic as businesses of all sizes transitioned their operations online. Demandware was integrated into Salesforce and rebranded as Commerce Cloud.

In 2013, the company made its first billion-dollar purchase with the $2.5 billion acquisition of ExactTarget. This marked Salesforce’s initial move into what would become the Marketing Cloud. The acquisition provided entry into the targeted email marketing industry, which experienced heightened importance in 2020 as effective customer communication became critical.

Just days after completing the MuleSoft acquisition last year, Salesforce further expanded its portfolio with the $1.35 billion purchase of ClickSoftware. This acquisition focused on enhancing the company’s Service Cloud, encompassing both customer and field service capabilities, specifically targeting the field service segment and expanding its customer base.

Earlier this year, Salesforce completed another billion-dollar deal, acquiring Vlocity for $1.33 billion. This acquisition was designed to bolster the core CRM product. Vlocity offered Salesforce several industry-specific solutions built on the Salesforce platform, representing a natural addition to the company’s offerings and enabling further expansion into specialized markets.

Although the Slack acquisition remains unconfirmed, indications suggest it is likely to occur, and it is anticipated to exceed the value of the Tableau acquisition as Salesforce continues its active acquisition strategy.