News Analysis
The Gist
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Strategic acquisition announced. Salesforce will acquire Informatica for $8 billion in equity value.
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AI data platform integration. Informatica's data management will be embedded into Salesforce's ecosystem.
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Enterprise AI enhancement. CIOs and enterprise data leaders can expect improved data governance and AI readiness, potentially accelerating AI adoption and operational efficiencies.
Salesforce signed a definitive agreement to acquire Informatica for approximately $8 billion in equity value, net of Salesforce's current investment in the company. Under the terms of the agreement announced May 27, holders of Informatica's Class A and Class B-1 common stock will receive $25 in cash per share.
The acquisition aims to enhance Salesforce's data foundation for deploying agentic AI. According to Salesforce officials, the combination will establish a unified architecture for AI agents to operate across enterprises. The deal marks one of Salesforce's largest acquisitions since its $28 billion purchase of Slack Technologies completed in 2021, amplifying its competitive edge in data and analytics domain. Salesforce still remains the top vendor in the customer relationship management (CRM) software space.
As the industry continues to evolve, such strategic moves are poised to reshape the landscape, setting the stage for heightened innovation and market consolidation.
Table of Contents
- Impacted Audiences for Salesforce-Informatica Acquisition
- Industry Context and Market Trends
- Integrated Capabilities Between Salesforce and Informatica
- Salesforce Background
- Informatica Experience: Data Portfolio Strength
- What Does Salesforce Get With Informatica?
- Salesforce's Move to Master Data Integration
- What Does This Mean for CMOs and CX Professionals?
- Parting Thoughts on Salesforce-Informatica Deal
Impacted Audiences for Salesforce-Informatica Acquisition
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Enterprise data and IT leaders
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CIOs and CTOs implementing AI strategies
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Salesforce and Informatica customers and partners
Industry Context and Market Trends
Why Data Quality and Governance Now Define AI Success
Data quality and unified governance have become the critical foundation for AI-driven business transformation in today's enterprise landscape.
Salesforce's acquisition of Informatica comes after previous speculation about a potential deal that didn't materialize earlier. The company has been building its data analytics capabilities through Tableau, positioning data as central to business intelligence.
Rumors of Salesforce's acquisition of Informatica first swirled in early 2024 and signaled a significant move to bolster its data capabilities, reflecting an ongoing consolidation trend in the software industry. The Wall Street Journal first reported the news of the potential Salesforce-Informatica acquisition Friday, April 12, 2024. Informatica's market cap was more than $11 billion as of Saturday, April 13, 2024 and is today, May 29, 2025 at $7.26 billion. Salesforce is now valued at about $246.62 billion.
This development last year came amidst speculation that Thoma Bravo was considering a public offering for Qlik, Talend and possibly Alation, highlighting a broader aggregation of similar functionalities within the tech landscape.
Informatica, which offers AI-powered cloud data management, boasts a clientele of 5,000 customers and recent advancements in artificial intelligence tools. That presents an enticing opportunity for Salesforce.
The Enterprise Race for Unified Data and AI Readiness
The enterprise market has shifted dramatically toward data-driven decision making, with unified platforms becoming essential for effective governance and analysis. Organizations increasingly recognize that data quality determines AI success; as CMSWire Contributor Siddharth Rajgarhia noted, "AI in customer success will only be as good as the quality of data your AI is trained on."
Integration challenges remain significant hurdles, as seen in Oracle's experience where "integrating dissimilar technologies and systems from acquisitions hindered its ability to deliver cohesive solutions." According to Salesforce officials, the Informatica acquisition aims to address these challenges by creating a unified architecture for agentic AI with integrated data catalog, governance, quality and master data management capabilities.
The move reflects the broader industry recognition that competitive advantage in AI doesn't come from algorithms alone, but from the quality, richness and integration of enterprise data assets that power those systems.
Integrated Capabilities Between Salesforce and Informatica
According to Salesforce, the integration with Informatica will deliver several key capabilities:
| Capability | Description |
|---|---|
| Data Transparency | Informatica's tools show data lineage and changes for regulatory compliance |
| Data Understanding | Rich metadata combined with unified data model for contextual AI actions |
| Data Governance | Built-in MDM and quality controls ensure standardized, accurate data |
| Data Cloud Enhancement | Strengthened Customer Data Platform with trusted, actionable data |
| Agentforce Foundation | Critical foundation for AI agents to interpret complex enterprise data |
| Customer 360 Augmentation | Enhanced CRM applications with more personalized customer experiences |
| MuleSoft Integration | Enriched, standardized data flowing through APIs for AI-powered decisions |
| Tableau Insights | Richer, context-driven insights from a better-understood data landscape |
Together, Salesforce and Informatica will create the most complete, agent-ready data platform in the industry.
- Mark Benioff, Salesforce CEO.
Salesforce Background
Salesforce targets enterprise and mid-market business leaders, particularly in sales, marketing and customer service. The company was founded in 1999 in San Francisco, California.
Product Portfolio
Its primary offerings include cloud-based customer relationship management software, marketing automation, analytics and application development tools. The company asserts that its platform enables organizations to manage customer data, automate processes and integrate with third-party applications. Its solutions are delivered as SaaS, supporting digital transformation and customer engagement initiatives.
Market Position
The company is recognized as a significant provider in the enterprise software and CRM sector. It serves a broad range of industries, with a strong presence among large enterprises and expanding mid-sized businesses. Its customer base includes organizations seeking to modernize sales, service and marketing operations. The company competes with other major enterprise software vendors and positions itself as a partner for digital business transformation.
Related Article: Will Alphabet Acquire HubSpot?
Informatica Experience: Data Portfolio Strength
In full transparency, this author joined Informatica in 2014 during a period of steady 9% annual growth, surrounded by a cadre of exceptionally talented individuals. Our industry-leading data portfolio positioned us well, but like many legacy software vendors; our Achilles' heel was our lack of an integrated cloud portfolio.
Admittedly, the industry-wide shift toward cloud computing posed a significant challenge for many organizations, especially considering the changing purchasing models. The transition to private equity, albeit resulting in some personnel changes including me, ultimately facilitated Informatica’s transformation to a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) delivery model, aligning Informatica with modern industry standards.
Salesforce will then become a data company... No longer a CRM company, it will become a data management company if they acquire Informatica.
— Jesús Hoyos #cx2advisory #martech #crm (@jesus_hoyos) April 13, 2024
Data needs governance, data needs to be clean, data needs to be accurate, data needs to be available, and today's data is everywhere.… https://t.co/afTuDAwj0x
What Does Salesforce Get With Informatica?
In acquiring Informatica, Salesforce gains a strategic pathway to enrich its generative AI systems, fueling Einstein with robust APIs and advanced data integration capabilities. This portion of the integration will merge existing Mulesoft infrastructure, bridging the gap between business and data integration realms. Salesforce acquired Mulesoft in 2018 for $6.5 billion.
However, to be fair, Mulesoft has been more about system integration, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) replacement and less about data integration.
Predrag (PJ) Jakovljevic, principal industry analyst for Technology Evaluation Centers, told CMSWire in 2024, "MuleSoft is good for APIs and data transfers. Informatica is much more about ETL and data quality for data warehouses and data lakes. Tableau on top for visualizations. But even more, the critical piece for Salesforce’s AI strategy is Data Cloud and metadata framework. Informatica would play the role as an ETL for Databricks, Snowflake, etc. That Data Cloud normalizes data so that marketers, CX agents, sales, etc. all look at the same data but relevant for them."
The acquisition also promises a more comprehensive data catalog than what's currently native to Tableau (another Salesforce acquisition), empowering users with enhanced data discovery, quality assurance and observability tools. Moreover, Informatica brings to the table vital components like master data management, 360-degree customer insights, data governance, privacy features and the potential for a data marketplace, fortifying Salesforce's data-centric offerings.
The consolidation of Mulesoft and Informatica within Salesforce's ecosystem will be a focal point, particularly considering Mulesoft's recent personnel losses. Additionally, the synergy between Einstein Copilot for Tableau and Salesforce's CRM platform holds promise for streamlined data analysis and management, potentially resolving data quality issues and facilitating native integrations.
Related Article: The Salesforce Data Fiasco: Some Public Sites Exposing Sensitive Information
Salesforce's Move to Master Data Integration
Ultimately, Salesforce's strategic move positions it to offer comprehensive, end-to-end data solutions, addressing the critical need for consistent customer data and empowering organizations to make faster, more informed decisions.
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Howard Dresner, the founder and chief research officer for Dresner Advisory Services, said in 2024, “while I understand the business rationale for this move including bringing accretive revenue to the bottom line, these kinds of moves are highly disruptive for customers and employees. Without question, Informatica is a prize to be acquired because they are the best at what they do with one of the strongest portfolios in the business."
Dresner said he anticipates further mergers and acquisitions, largely driven by economic conditions rather than Salesforce's actions. To fully capitalize on this, Salesforce and Tableau must integrate their capabilities effectively, thereby improving customer insights and analysis.
What Does This Mean for CMOs and CX Professionals?
For CMOs and CX professionals, the acquisition of Informatica by Salesforce signals an acceleration in innovation crucial for enhancing customer experiences. By integrating robust data capabilities, leaders gain the agility for self-service analysis, empowering them to make data-driven decisions swiftly.
However, as highlighted by the authors of Future Ready, achieving industrialized data and optimizing customer experience are paramount, correlating with significantly higher revenue growth and net margins. Neglecting data industrialization risks escalating costs and exacerbating fragmentation, ultimately compromising service quality.
Therefore, smart marketing and CX leaders prioritize industrialization efforts to mitigate these risks and maintain competitiveness against rivals like Adobe. By harnessing Salesforce's consolidated offerings effectively, organizations can maximize business value and elevate customer satisfaction, underscoring the significance of this development for CMOs and CX leaders alike. Put simply, the competitive advantage for CMOs and marketing leaders is to industrialize and eliminate the tech debt that has limited exceptional customer experience. Getting this right will therefore offer significant business value.
Parting Thoughts on Salesforce-Informatica Deal
The acquisition of Informatica by Salesforce marks a strategic move to bolster data capabilities and streamline data integration within the tech landscape. This consolidation not only promises to accelerate innovation for CMOs and CX professionals, enabling swift decision-making and enhanced customer experiences, but also highlights the critical need for industrialized data.
As highlighted by industry experts, organizations that prioritize data industrialization alongside customer experience optimization stand to achieve substantially higher revenue growth and net margins. By leveraging Salesforce's comprehensive offerings effectively, companies can mitigate risks, reduce costs and ultimately drive business value, positioning themselves competitively in the ever-evolving market for customer experience solutions.
Editor's note: This piece, originally published in April of 2024, was updated May 29, 2025 with new information and data.
