Salesforce To Buy Buddy Media

Salesforce To Buy Buddy Media For $689 Million In Social Push

By Cornelius Rahn - Jun 4, 2012 

Salesforce.com Inc. (CRM) said it agreed to buy Buddy Media Inc. for about $689 million to boost its offering of software that helps clients to sell through social networks such as those of Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc.

Salesforce will acquire the closely held provider of social-marketing and analysis tools for $467 million in cash, $184 million in its own common stock as well as $38 million in options and restricted stock, the San Francisco-based company said in a statement today. The deal will probably be completed during the three months ending Oct. 31, Salesforce said.

Software makers including SAP AG (SAP) and Oracle Corp. (ORCL) are buying smaller social-

media specialists to take advantage of more than 1 billion consumers who exchange views on products and services on online platforms. Oracle considered purchasing Buddy Media before opting to acquire its peer Vitrue, Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison said last week.

“Social media has caused the biggest transformation in marketing since the Mad Men era, causing chief marketing officers to completely re-think their strategies,” said Marcel LeBrun, senior vice president of Salesforce Radian6’s social- media analysis platform in the statement. “By bringing together market leaders Radian6 and Buddy Media, we are doubling down on the Salesforce marketing cloud to provide chief marketing officers with the ability to manage the entire social marketing lifecycle.”

Following the completion of the deal, Salesforce said it expects fiscal 2013 revenue of $2.99 billion to $3.025 billion. Earnings per share for that year on a non-GAAP accounting basis will be $1.45 to $1.49, it said. The transaction probably won’t have “any material impact” on its results for the fiscal second quarter, it said.