SALESFORCE said it was buying data protection and management solutions provider Own for US$1.9 billion, the company’s second acquisition this week.
The deal “underscores our commitment to providing secure, end-to-end solutions that protect our customers’ most valuable data,” Steve Fisher, a Salesforce executive focused on data products, said in a statement confirming an earlier report by Bloomberg News.
Own focuses on securing data across software applications. Since incorporating in 2015, it has received funding from Salesforce Ventures, BlackRock Inc. and Tiger Global. It changed its name from OwnBackup last October, according to Own’s website.
The company was valued at US$3.35 billion after a funding round in 2021, according to a statement at the time.
The Salesforce transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter, according to the statement.
Own is Salesforce’s biggest deal announced since buying Slack in 2021.
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Salesforce held talks to acquire Informatica this year but didn’t reach an agreement. The company said on Tuesday that it was acquiring Tenyx, a developer of AI-powered voice agents, without disclosing terms.
Salesforce chief executive officer Marc Benioff’s penchant for growth through acquisitions had come under fire from activist investors in recent years.
The company averted a potential proxy fight with activist investor Elliott Investment Management last year after a series of strategic changes, including disbanding its mergers and acquisitions committee, and a rise in the stock price.
The deal won’t impact Salesforce’s previously given fiscal year financial guidance or its capital return programme, the company said.
After improving profitability, Salesforce is focused on sales growth. It has touted a tool for organising and analysing information across apps called Data Cloud as a major growth engine. During earnings last week, it unveiled new branding for the company’s AI tools, dubbing the digital assistants built on the emerging technology as “agents.” BLOOMBERG
