Acquisition aims to enhance “agentic AI’”capabilities by unifying data management across Salesforce ecosystem
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) has announced an agreement to acquire cloud data management company Informatica (NYSE:INFA) in a cash deal worth approximately US$8 billion, deepening its investment in artificial intelligence and enterprise data infrastructure.
Under the terms, Salesforce will pay US$25 per share for Informatica’s Class A and Class B-1 common stock, funded through a mix of existing cash and new debt. Salesforce already holds a stake in Informatica, which will be deducted from the total transaction value.
The acquisition is designed to strengthen Salesforce’s AI offering—particularly its autonomous agent platform, Agentforce—by embedding Informatica’s industry-leading capabilities in data integration, governance, metadata management, and Master Data Management (MDM).
Strategic rationale: data foundation for AI
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff called the acquisition a “transformational step” in enabling AI agents to operate “safely, responsibly, and at scale across the modern enterprise.”
“Together, we’ll supercharge Agentforce, Data Cloud, Tableau, MuleSoft, and Customer 360,” Benioff said. “This deal significantly strengthens our position in the US$150bn+ enterprise data market.”
Informatica CEO Amit Walia described the tie-up as “a significant leap forward” in helping organisations unlock the full value of their data in the AI era. The company serves more than 5,000 customers across nearly 100 countries.
The move follows years of Salesforce building out its data stack through major acquisitions:
- MuleSoft (2018): US$6.5bn for application integration.
- Tableau (2019): US$15.7bn for data visualisation and analytics.
- Slack (2021): US$27.7bn to power enterprise collaboration.
Informatica adds a critical layer of trusted, governed data infrastructure, enabling Salesforce to offer what it calls a “system of understanding” for autonomous AI agents.
Market response and timeline
Shares of Informatica rose more than 6% on the day of the announcement, while Salesforce stock closed up over 1%. The deal has been approved by both boards and is expected to close in early fiscal 2027, subject to regulatory approvals. With over 60% of voting power already committed, no further shareholder approval is required.
Salesforce expects the deal to be accretive to non-GAAP operating margin, earnings per share, and free cash flow from the second year post-close, driven by integration synergies and revenue uplift.
Analyst perspective: closing the AI data gap
Industry analysts welcomed the acquisition as a strategic fit. Forrester’s Noel Yuhanna said the deal “markedly elevates Salesforce’s position across all critical dimensions of modern data management,” noting it would enable real-time customer insights and lower-latency AI deployments.
Amalgam Insights analyst Hyoun Park said Informatica’s strong data governance and metadata capabilities “go hand-in-hand” with Salesforce’s vision for agentic AI, even as some overlap with MuleSoft may invite regulatory scrutiny.
Salesforce has faced past criticism for its M&A appetite, but the company’s leadership framed the Informatica deal as a carefully timed, high-conviction move. Salesforce CFO Robin Washington said the company would execute “with strategic clarity and financial discipline,” aiming to deliver “sustained benefits for all stakeholders.”
The acquisition places Salesforce in direct competition with other enterprise data and AI integration platforms, such as ServiceNow and Microsoft Azure, as demand for responsible, real-time AI systems reshapes the software landscape.
