Salesforce snaps up Tableau in biggest acquisition yet

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Salesforce has announced that it will purchase the big data firm Tableau Software for $15.3bn in its biggest acquisition ever as the company aims to offer improved data insights to its customers.

Tableau shareholders will get 1.103 Salesforce shares as part of the all-stock deal and the offer values the company's shares at $177.88 per share which represents a premium of 42 percent on its closing price last Friday. The company currently has over 86,00 customers including streaming giant Netflix and Verizon Communications.

Salesforce's deal to buy Tableau comes just a few days after Google announced that it would acquire the big data analytics firm Looker for $2.6bn.

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Salesforce chairman and co-CEO Marc Benioff explained how the acquisition will bring together two market leaders, saying:

"We are bringing together the world’s #1 CRM with the #1 analytics platform. Tableau helps people see and understand data, and Salesforce helps people engage and understand customers. It’s truly the best of both worlds for our customers--bringing together two critical platforms that every customer needs to understand their world."

Salesforce and Tableau

By acquiring Tableau, Salesforce will play an even greater role in driving organization's digital transformation efforts by enabling firms to tap into data across their entire business and gain deeper insights which will in turn lead to smarter decisions, connected customer experiences and accelerated innovation.

The deal is expected to close during the the third quarter and Tableau will continue to operate independently.

The company's chief executive officer Adam Selipsky will remain at the reigns along with its current leadership team.

Following the announcement, Salesforce shares fell by 5 percent to $156.43 while Tableau's jumped by 35 percent to $169.50.

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Via CNBC

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