Salesforce (TC6)

Remember when we discussed cloud computing? Remember SaaS?

Yes!!! Salesforce is exactly that—a software as a service.

Salesforce is an American IT, cloud-based company specializing in helping businesses manage customer relationships through their Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. It also offers tools to assist businesses with:

Sales

E-commerce

Marketing

Customer service

App development

Analytics

With about 72,682 employees as of 2024, Salesforce was founded by Marc Benioff (former Oracle executive) Marc Benioff on X | LinkedIn, Parker Harris Parker Harris on X | LinkedIn, Dave Moellenhoff LinkedIn, and Frank Dominguez on February 3, 1999.

The company's headquarters are in Salesforce Tower, San Francisco, California, with Marc Benioff serving as Chairman and CEO. In 2024, Salesforce realized $34.86 billion in revenue and an accruing net income of $4.136 billion (Wikipedia).

Salesforce’s corporate culture is rooted in the Hawaiian concept of “Ohana,” meaning family.

Through its cloud platform, Salesforce provides a wide array of services, including:

E-commerce solutions for online businesses.

Customer support software to enhance customer service.

Marketing automation tools to streamline marketing efforts.

Data analytics and software creation tools.

Sales automation tools to help businesses manage and improve their sales processes.

Quip (collaborative productivity software)

Heroku (cloud application platform)

Acumen Solutions (business consulting)

Tableau (data visualization software)

MuleSoft (data integration software)

Slack Technologies (business communication),

and more.

Globally, Salesforce operates in 110 offices, including prominent cities like Paris, Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong, London, and Tel Aviv.

After its establishment in 1999, Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle, and Halsey Minor, the founder of CNET, invested early in the company.

Salesforce experienced rapid growth despite coinciding with the challenges of the dot-com bubble. With its notable "end of software" marketing, Salesforce gained traction, increasing its revenue from $5.4 million in 2001 to over $100 million by 2003. That same year, Salesforce held its first Dreamforce conference.

In 2004, Salesforce went public on the NYSE under the ticker CRM, raising $110 million. In 2006, it launched IdeaExchange, an innovative platform for customer feedback. During the same period, it acquired Sendia, a mobile web service, for $15 million, and Keiden, an online advertising service.

In 2007, Salesforce acquired Moral, a software for content management.

By 2008, Salesforce made significant strides by acquiring Intranet for $31.5 million, getting added to the S&P 500 index, and switching its servers from Sun Microsystems to Dell servers running on Linux.

Upon reaching $1 billion in annual revenue in 2009, Salesforce introduced Service Cloud, designed for customer service management. This was also when the company began investing in startups, which eventually led to the creation of Salesforce Ventures (SFV), headed by John Somorjai. Salesforce Ventures supports startups, especially those focused on cloud computing.

In 2010, Salesforce acquired Jigsaw, a cloud data service, for $142 million, Heroku for a whopping $212 million, and Activa Live Chat.

In 2011, Salesforce acquired Dimdim, a web conferencing tool, for $31 million, along with Radian6, a social media tracking software for $340 million, and RYPPLE, a performance management tool.

In 2012, Salesforce continued expanding, acquiring Buddy Media (social media marketing) for $689 million and GoInstant (browser collaboration) for $70 million.

Despite these accomplishments, the following years saw even more mind-boggling expansion.

In 2013, Salesforce partnered with Oracle and acquired ExactTarget (email marketing) for $2.5 billion.

In 2014, Salesforce launched the Salesforce1 fund via Salesforce Ventures to support startups building mobile applications.

That same year, it acquired RelateIQ (data) for $390 million and launched Trailhead, a free learning platform. The Salesforce UK data center was also established that year to comply with European data regulations.

In 2015, Salesforce acquired SteelBrick (software) for $360 million.

Salesforce's acquisition spree continued into 2016. It acquired Demandware (e-commerce) for $2.8 billion and Quip (word processing) for $750 million.

Salesforce also integrated an AI model called Einstein into its services. To meet data residency requirements in certain countries, it began using Amazon Web Services.

In 2017, Salesforce acquired Sequence (user experience design), followed by MuleSoft (cloud services) for $6.5 billion in 2018, as well as Rebel (email services) and Datorama (AI marketing).

As of August 2018, Salesforce Ventures had invested $1 billion in 275 companies, including notable names like:

CloudCraze (e-commerce)

Figure Eight (artificial intelligence)

Forter (online fraud prevention)

FinancialForce (automation software)

That same year, Salesforce expanded its support for startups by launching the Japanese Trailblazer Fund, investing in Japanese startups.

In 2019, Salesforce made a massive acquisition, purchasing Tableau (data analytics) for $15.7 billion. Salesforce also made significant investments in companies like:

Domo (data visualization)

SurveyMonkey (online surveys)

Twilio (cloud communications)

Dropbox (cloud storage)

DocuSign (e-signature services)

In 2020, Salesforce joined the prestigious Dow Jones Industrial Average, replacing ExxonMobil and remaining there to date. This year also saw the stepping down of Co-CEO Keith Block, leaving Marc Benioff as the sole CEO.

A Hallmark Year: Salesforce made its largest acquisition ever by acquiring Slack (office messaging) for $27.7 billion.

During the same period, Salesforce appointed Bret Taylor as co-CEO. However, the company also laid off about 8,000 employees (10% of its workforce) due to over-hiring during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Salesforce Ventures saw investments generating a $2.17 billion annual gain.

In 2022, Salesforce acquired Troops.ai (Slack-bot maker) and Airkit.ai (AI customer service apps). The company ranked 126th on the Fortune 500 list, reporting $26.49 billion in revenue, marking a 25% increase from the previous year.

In September, Salesforce also became the world’s largest enterprise software company by ranking 61st globally in terms of market value at $153 billion.

In 2023, Salesforce doubled the size of its Generative AI Fund from $250 million to $500 million to support AI startups.

During the same period, Co-CEO Bret Taylor stepped down. Salesforce also laid off an additional 700 employees and acquired Spiff (commission management).

Talks to acquire Informatica were held but later abandoned. Salesforce ranked 491st on the 2023 Fortune 500 list.

In 2024, Salesforce continued its acquisition streak by acquiring Own (backup solutions) for $1.9 billion, along with PredictSpring and Tenyx.

They also launched Einstein Copilot: Health Actions, an AI assistant for healthcare tasks like managing appointments and patient data.

Salesforce has come a veeeeery loooooooong way!

Salesforce’s acquisitions have played a critical role in keeping the company ahead in the cloud technology space.

Ultimately, Salesforce remains pumped for more acquisitions, innovative solutions, and pioneering revolutions in the tech industry, especially in cloud computing and cloud technologies.

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