Salesforce to Buy Informatica for $8bn

CRM software giant Salesforce is to acquire California-based cloud data management firm Informatica, for around $8bn.

Salesforce is an existing investor in Informatica, whose Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC), powered by its CLAIRE data engine, delivers an end-to-end platform for connecting, managing and integrating data across 'any' cloud, hybrid or multi-cloud environment. Informatica has more than 5,000 customers worldwide.

Salesforce says the buy, one of the largest in the data and analytics sector to date, will bring it a 'rich data catalog, data integration, governance, quality and privacy, metadata management, and Master Data Management (MDM) services', which combined with its own platform will establish 'a unified architecture for agentic AI - enabling AI agents to operate safely, responsibly, and at scale across the modern enterprise.'

Marc Benioff (pictured), Chair and CEO of Salesforce says the buy 'unites the world's #1 AI CRM with the #1 AI-powered MDM and ETL platform' to create 'the ultimate AI-data platform - trusted, explainable, and built to scale.' He adds: 'Together, we'll supercharge Agentforce, Data Cloud, Tableau, MuleSoft, and Customer 360, enabling autonomous agents to act with intelligence, context, and confidence across every enterprise.' Amit Walia, CEO of Informatica adds: 'We have a shared vision for how we can help organizations harness the full value of their data in the AI era.'

Among the expected benefits, users of Salesforce's Tableau data viz solution are promised 'richer, context-driven insights thanks to a more accessible and better-understood data landscape.'

Under the terms of the agreement, Salesforce will acquire all outstanding shares of common stock of Informatica that it does not already own. The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of both Salesforce and Informatica and is expected to close early in Salesforce's fiscal year 2027, subject to regulatory clearance and satisfaction of other conditions.

Web sites: www.salesforce.com and www.informatica.com .