Salesforce.com to buy GoInstant for $70m: report
Salesforce.com is reportedly poised to continue its spending spree following weeks of snapping up high-profile social enterprise-related firms --- and shuttering some of them --- and is moving on to GoInstant, reports The Wall Street Journal.
People "familiar with the matter" say the company could sell for a price tag of thereabouts $70 million and upwards.
GoInstant was founded in 2010 and raised $1.7 million in seed financing from investors at LinkedIn and Facebook. According to its company pages, the firm has only a dozen employees.
The Nova Scotia-based company offers "no download" software to allow people in distant physical locations to browse websites together, offering a "co-browsing" experience.
The company markets the software as particularly useful for sales calls and customer service, though a league away from actual screen sharing.
In the last few weeks, Salesforce.com has been splashing the cash around since the Microsoft--Yammer affair. Following months of reported flirting, the two companies kicked off their heels and partnered up.
The social enterprise giant bought out Buddy Media following rumours of a buy-out. A fortnight later, Salesforce.com announced a global alliance with Twitter to enable access to public tweets in real time. ChoicePass was next and Salesforce.com hired the staff and shuttered the site. Following that chunky acquisition, group communications provider Thinkfuse was next on the list and went for $470 million in cash and another $180 million in stock.
Salesforce.com is fattening up to prepare for the winter. And like medieval times, it wants the rest of the grain-scrabbling social enterprise peasants to know who's the lord of the manor.
ZDNet reached out to GoInstant but did not receive a ring back at the time of writing.