Salesforce completes Buddy Media acquisition
Two months after Salesforce first revealed a $689 million deal to buy social media-campaign firm Buddy Media, the enterprise software giant has confirmed the completed acquisition of the firm.
The San Francisco-based company announced the acquisition in June. Although no financial details have been disclosed, the original reports on the deal stated that Buddy Media would be purchased through $467 million in cash, $184 million in stock, and an additional $38 million in invested Salesforce restricted stock.
Salesforce currently boasts over 100,000 customers, who utilize its cloud computing services. Adding a social media element to the mix may result in a boost to its core business services and long-term strategy to connect more effectively with customers. Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff said in a statement:
"Salesforce.com now has the No. 1 players in social listening and marketing -- Radian6 and Buddy Media. With the rapid growth in technology spending by [chief marketing officers] projected over the next five years, our Marketing Cloud leadership will allow us to capitalize on this massive opportunity."
Founded in 2007, Buddy Media is a corporation which specializes in helping businesses with their social media branding and campaigns. Originally, the company focuses on social networking site Facebook, but has recently branched out into Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+.
"Social media has caused the biggest transformation in marketing since the Mad Men era, causing CMOs to completely re-think their strategies," said Marcel LeBrun, SVP of Salesforce Radian6. "By bringing together market leaders Radian6 and Buddy Media, we are doubling down on the Salesforce Marketing Cloud to provide CMOs with the ability to manage the entire social marketing lifecycle."
Yesterday, Salesforce unveiled a new social enterprise platform designed to more closely connect and bind every facet of the sales process, from employees to resellers to customers. The new service has been unveiled in pilot mode, and will be in the spotlight at Salesforce's annual expo Dreamforce this September.