Salesforce has announced its plan to acquire cloud data management company Informatica in a deal valued at around $8 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Informatica shareholders will receive $25 per share in cash. The acquisition is expected to be financed through a combination of Salesforce’s existing cash reserves and new debt.
The transaction is anticipated to close early in Salesforce’s fiscal year 2027, pending regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. Notably, Informatica – founded in 1993 – offers a suite of data management tools, including data integration, governance, privacy, and Master Data Management (MDM) solutions. And now, by incorporating these capabilities, Salesforce aims to strengthen its AI platform – Agentforce – enabling more autonomous decision-making processes and enhancing data-driven insights for its clients.
“Together, Salesforce and Informatica will create the most complete, agent-ready data platform in the industry. By uniting the power of Data Cloud, MuleSoft, and Tableau with Informatica’s industry-leading, advanced data management capabilities, we will enable autonomous agents to deliver smarter, safer, and more scalable outcomes for every company, and significantly strengthen our position in the $150 billion-plus enterprise data market,” said Marc Benioff (CEO, Salesforce) said in his statement.
The latest move is intended to improve Salesforce’s capabilities in artificial intelligence (AI) and data management, building on its earlier major acquisitions like Tableau Software in 2019 and Slack Technologies in 2021. Additionally, in September 2024, Salesforce acquired Own Company (a data protection and management firm) for $1.9 billion. In the same month, the company also acquired Tenyx, a startup specializing in AI-powered conversational voice agents.
However, despite all these efforts, Salesforce has not been immune to internal challenges and controversies. In early 2024, the company initiated a round of layoffs, cutting around 700 jobs (about 1% of its global workforce). While the firm framed the layoffs as a strategic alignment of resources, the decision attracted criticism for its timing, given the company’s ongoing acquisition spree and record revenues in preceding quarters.
Recently, Salesforce again faced backlash in March 2025 for rolling back key diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The company removed diversity hiring targets from its annual financial disclosures and also decoupled executive compensation from meeting diversity benchmarks.
Now, on Informatica’s part, the company faced notable financial headwinds despite its push for innovation and strategic partnerships. In the fourth quarter of 2024, it reported revenues of $428.3 million, falling short of market expectations, which had projected $456.86 million. The revenue miss was primarily due to weaker renewal rates and shorter contract durations, particularly in its self-managed subscription segment. Although its Cloud Subscription Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) still showed strong growth, rising 34% year-over-year to $827.3 million, it came in $8.7 million below the company’s own prediction.
