Salesforce bets on analytics with US$15.7bn Tableau acquisition

Salesforce is acquiring analytics platform Tableau Software in an all-stock transaction for US$15.7 billion. The acquisition will allow Salesforce to play an "even greater role" in driving digital transformation, enabling companies around the world to tap into data across their entire business and surface deeper insights to make smarter decisions, drive intelligent, connected customer experiences and accelerate innovation.The acquisition of is expected to be completed during Salesforce's fiscal third quarter ending 31 October 2019, subject to customary closing conditions. According to Salesforce, the transaction is expected to increase the total revenue of its 2020 financial year by approximately US$350 million to US$400 million.As part of Salesforce, Tableau will be positioned to scale and further its mission to help people see and understand data. Following the acquisition close, Tableau will operate independently under the Tableau brand, driving forward a continued focus on its mission, customers and community. The analytics platform will remain headquartered in Seattle and will continue to be led by CEO Adam Selipsky and the current leadership team.With Tableau and Salesforce Einstein, its AI technology that was developed for the Salesforce Customer Success Platform, the company said it will be able to deliver "the most intelligent and intuitive" analytics and visualisation platform for companies. Salesforce added in the press statement that Tableau will make both its cross-cloud technology initiative, Salesforce Customer 360, and Salesforce's analytics capabilities "stronger than ever", and enable the company to reach a much broader set of customers and users.The acquisition comes days after Google announced it is acquiring Looker, a unified platform for business intelligence, data applications, and embedded analytics, for US$2.6 billion. The acquisition of Looker is expected to be complete later this year and is subject to customary closing conditions.Read also: Salesforce Research opens in SG, eyes growth of AI researchers in Asia Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff on the fourth industrial revolution and ‘inclusive capitalism’ Salesforce State of Marketing report puts customer experience in focus for HK/Singapore AirAsia partners Salesforce to offer personalised customer service Salesforce founder purchases TIME magazine for US$190 million