Cloud-based software company Salesforce is in advanced discussions to acquire Informatica, a data-management software maker, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. Following the news, the stocks of Salesforce and Informatica dropped over 5% and 9% on Monday, respectively.
There is a possibility of a deal at a price below Informatica’s Friday closing price of $38.48, the Wall Street Journal reported. Salesforce has acquired more than 70 companies since 2006. If Salesforce acquires Informatica, which has a market capitalization of about $11 billion, it would be its biggest acquisition since its $28 billion acquisition of Slack Technologies in 2021, the Journal reported.
As a cloud-based software company, Salesforce helps sales staff manage customer relationships, while Informatica allows companies to manage their data across cloud and on-premises systems for better analysis.
Like a lot of big tech companies, Salesforce also wants to bet on artificial intelligence. Earlier this year, Salesforce delivered two major releases: Einstein Copilot, a generative AI assistant for CRM, released in February; and Einstein 1 Studio, a set of tools that allow developers to customize Einstein Copilot, which was released in March.
Likewise, Informatica launched new tools last year that allow companies to manage their data using artificial intelligence.
As of Monday afternoon, Salesforce and Informatica were trading at $275 and $35, respectively.