Salesforce, which long had some relationships with, and perhaps even bought some stock in, Mattersight (at some point)… today announced a $15.7 billion (with a “B”) merger with Tableau.
It will be stock for stock, no cash changing hands — so the valuation is really just what stock traders say it is — but had Mattersight’s management been more astute… today, this might be their deal.
In any even, NICE should be concerned on at least two fronts: (i) that SalesForce is getting to be the dominant player in a space where NICE hopes to compete; and (ii) it increasingly seems as though NICE… essentially overpaid for what meager bits it acquired… in buying Mattersight. See specifically the ongoing patent litigation.
Here’s a bit from today’s TechCrunch story:
…“We are bringing together the world’s #1 CRM with the #1 analytics platform. Tableau helps people see and understand data, and Salesforce helps people engage and understand customers. It’s truly the best of both worlds for our customers–bringing together two critical platforms that every customer needs to understand their world,” said Marc Benioff, Chairman and co-CEO, Salesforce, in a statement. “I’m thrilled to welcome Adam and his team to Salesforce.”
Tableau has about 86,000 business customers including Charles Schwab, Verizon (which owns TC), Schneider Electric, Southwest and Netflix. Salesforce said Tableau will operate independently and under its own brand post-acquisition. It will also remain headquartered in Seattle, WA, headed by CEO Adam Selipsky along with others on the current leadership team….
So it goes. Onward.
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