Salesforce to acquire MuleSoft for $6.5 billion
Salesforce recently announced it will purchase MuleSoft for $6.5 billion. As part of the acquisition, Salesforce will use MuleSoft technology to power Salesforce Integration Cloud. The deal is expected to close at Salesforce’s fiscal year 2019 at the end of this July.
MuleSoft provides a platform that enables users to build and scale application networks, which connect enterprise apps, data and devices across any cloud and on-premises. The company boasts over 1,200 customers, such as Coca-Cola, Barclays, Unilever and Mount Sinai.
Under the terms of the agreement, Salesforce will commence an exchange offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of MuleSoft. MuleSoft shareholders would receive $36 in cash and 0.0711 of a Salesforce share, or $44.89 per share.
“Every digital transformation starts and ends with the customer,” said Chairman and CEO of Salesforce Marc Benioff in a statement announcing the acquisition. “Together, Salesforce and MuleSoft will enable customers to connect all of the information throughout their enterprise across all public and private clouds and data sources—radically enhancing innovation. I am thrilled to welcome MuleSoft to the Salesforce Ohana.”
Salesforce unveiled Salesforce Integration Cloud shortly after announcing its intent to acquire MuleSoft. Integration Cloud enables user to pinpoint and retrieve any kind of data to an end-user, despite where the data is stored.
Integration Cloud consists of three layers, including Integration Platform, Integration Builder and Integration Experiences. The Integration Platform will leverage MuleSoft’s platform once the company is acquired by Salesforce in July. Integration Builder, on the other hand, serves as a tool that enables administrators to build a single view of the customer across all of their Salesforce deployments. And Integration Experiences brings together Salesforce customer data to help develop customizable services.
Salesforce also announced a new workflow tool called Lightning Flow, which enables users to create workflows from the customer data in Salesforce CRM. The company added support for A.I. tools like Einstein Analytics and Quip Live Apps as well. Customers can use Lightning components to embed Einstein Analytics and live updates within custom apps to make smarter decisions with clicks instead of code. With Quip Live apps, customizable apps can be used inside Quip and are available in the Salesforce AppExchange from partners including Altify, draw.io and Vidyard. Trailhead education components are also included to help customers effectively utilize the new tools.
