Salesforce announced on Tuesday that it has entered an agreement in which it will acquire ExactTarget for about $2.5 billion. Salesforce will commence a tender offer for all outstanding shares of ExactTarget at $33.75 per share, in cash.
Salesforce says the acquisition will further its CRM platform goals and help it create a “world-class” marketing platform across email, social, mobile and the web.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said, “The CMO is expected to spend more on technology than the CIO by 2017. The addition of ExactTarget makes Salesforce the starting place for every company and puts salesforce.com in the pole position to capture this opportunity.”
“ExactTarget’s mission is to revolutionize how businesses connect with their consumers using data-driven digital marketing across all channels,” said Scott Dorsey, ExactTarget chairman, CEO and co-founder. “Salesforce.com’s tremendous strength in social marketing, along with its leadership position in sales and service, not only will accelerate this vision, but also provide our customers with a powerful, integrated CRM platform to transform their end-to-end customer experience.”
The acquisition is expected to increase Salesforce’s total revenue by $120 to $125 million. ExactTarget is used by over 6,000 companies, including Coca-Cola, Gap and Nike.
The deal has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both Salesforce and ExactTarget.